java - Getting compiler error while using array constants in the constructor

Question

public class Sonnet29 implements Poem {
    private String[] poem;
    public Sonnet29() {
        poem = { "foo", "bar" , "baz"};
    }
    @Override
    public void recite() {
      //...
    }
}

Line poem = { "foo", "bar" , "baz"}; is giving compilation error.

Any specific reason why this is not allowed? How do I initialize a String array with array constants?

EDIT: Thank you folks for your answers. Now I'm clear what is allowed and what is NOT. But can I ask you why this is NOT allowed?

String[] pets;
pets = {"cat", "dog"};

After googling a bit, I found this link, where in, it is told that coding like this leaves the compiler in ambiguity - whether the pets should be array of Strings or array of Objects. However from the declaration, it can very well figure out that it is a String array, right???

question from:https://stackoverflow.com/questions/3078441/getting-compiler-error-while-using-array-constants-in-the-constructor

Answer 1

This will do what you're looking for:

public Sonnet29() {
    poem = new String[] { "foo", "bar", "baz" };
}

Initialization lists are only allowed when creating a new instance of the array.