Although I've taken 2 university classes in Java in the past, I don't recall this. I've researched this online, but could only find references to the associated class type for each primitive type, and no specific indication of what happens to primitive type arrays.
Primitive Type Wrapper Class
boolean Boolean
byte Byte
char Character
short Short
int Integer
long Long
float Float
double Double
boolean[] ?
byte[] ?
char[] ?
short[] ?
int[] ?
long[] ?
float[] ?
double[] ?
The only reason I can think of for it to not be mentioned at all is if there is no difference: for example, char[]
becomes Character[]
. However, if I recall correctly there are array wrappers (e.g. CharArray
; although I can't remember if those are implementation defined or not). However the thing that would make the most sense for autoboxing a char[]
would be String
, like it is in other languages.
So, for example, if the method took Object
would char[]
become Character[]
, CharArray
, or String
? Can it depend on the circumstances (with overloaded methods)? For example, with a method taking an Object
it becomes CharArray
in that one, but if there's an overload for String
it uses that one instead.
It was mentioned in the comments that the arrays for primitive types (e.g. CharArray
or IntegerArray
) are not provided by Oracle. Thus I wonder if there is a priority system on autoboxing that is implementation defined, or if perhaps the autoboxing of primitive types and primitive type arrays to be used with a method taking Object
is always the same.
During my studies Econometrics at the Erasmus University, as a teacher assistant I wrote this Java programming guide together with my programming teacher. It states that there are 8 primitive variables, namely the eight ones on top of your list. Arrays are not primitive and can therefore not be autoboxed.
Then, this paragraph explains everything you need to know about autoboxing.