Arrays

Arrays are the odd duck out in the world of collections. They are basically a List but aren't Lists.¹

You can make a List which is a view over an array with Arrays.asList.

import java.util.List;
import java.util.Arrays;

class Main {
    void main() {
        String[] furniture = new String[] {
            "Ottoman",
            "Table",
            "Dresser"
        };

        List<String> furnitureList = Arrays.asList(furniture);

        System.out.println(furnitureList);
    }
}

Changes made to the List returned from Arrays.asList will be reflected in the underlying array.

import java.util.List;
import java.util.Arrays;

class Main {
    void main() {
        String[] furniture = new String[] {
            "Ottoman",
            "Table",
            "Dresser"
        };

        List<String> furnitureList = Arrays.asList(furniture);

        furnitureList.set(0, "Recliner");

        System.out.println(Arrays.toString(furniture));
    }
}

Accordingly, any methods on List which try to perform operations that an array cannot support (such as .add) will throw exceptions.

import java.util.List;
import java.util.Arrays;

class Main {
    void main() {
        String[] furniture = new String[] {
            "Ottoman",
            "Table",
            "Dresser"
        };

        List<String> furnitureList = Arrays.asList(furniture);

        // Cannot add to an array!
        furnitureList.add("Shelf");
    }
}