How to save new objects into an arrayList?

JAVA - ARRAYLIST question?

• Hi, I'm reading HeadFirst Java and in chapter 6 there is a battleship program it walks you through. In doing so it introduces the java class ArrayList. I'm trying to use one and load it with 3 objects but keep getting an <identifier> expected error when I compile it. Am I allowed to do this? The complete code is below and Java says the error is with the shipList.add statements. import java.util.ArrayList; public class Board { Ship go2 = new Ship(); Ship pets = new Ship(); Ship askme = new Ship(); ArrayList<Ship> shipList = new ArrayList<Ship>(); shipList.add( go2 ); shipList.add( pets ); shipList.add( askme ); } // end Board Many thanks in advance!

• Answer:

  I think your entire problem is because you put the entire code directly into the class, instead of putting it into a constructor or a method. So it would have to look something like this: public class Board { public Board() { //You forgot this, that's very crucial!!!!! Ship go2 = new Ship(); Ship pets = new Ship(); Ship askme = new Ship(); ArrayList<Ship> shipList = new ArrayList<Ship>(); shipList.add( go2 ); shipList.add( pets ); shipList.add( askme ); } } // end Board I'm pretty sure that will save your butt ^^ Good luck!