NullPointerException when working with arrays

Question

I am trying to create a program for an online Java course. This program includes an Employee class and a Name class. I have to create multiple Employee objects and prompt th

Answer 1

You're not creating any Employee objects. Creating the array doesn't create any Employee objects - the array doesn't contain objects, it contains references, and initially all those references are null. You just need:

employee[j] = new Employee();
employee[j].setFirstName(nameF);

It's worth being very clear about the differences between objects and references - it affects all aspects of the language, from default values, to the assignment operator, to parameter passing, to garbage collection. It can be particularly confusing if you've come from a C++ background, I believe.