How to create an array of structure which the structure contain an array(s)

Question

im very new to java, and new here
i searched many websites, but i cant find it
it looks like this,
there is 10 employees, each of them has 0-5 children,
what i want is,
peter alan joseph
|?????????????????|???????|??????????????
| |????????| |??????| | |?????| |
| | andrew | | alvin | | | john | | ...........................
| |________| |______| | |_____| |
| |
what i know is,
import java.util.*;
class main{
    public static void main(String[] args){
          employee d[] = new employee[10];
          d[0]= new employee();
          d[0].child = "alvin";
          System.out.println(d[0].child);
class employee{
    String child;
}but only work for 1 child.. =(
i need an array of structure which the structure itself cantains an array(s)
please help, newbie here

Answer 1

sen,
my lecture[r] said no statement in classEither you misundetstood your lecturer [probable]; or your lecturer is full of shit [possible].
is "String[] children = new String[5]" a statement ?Yes, it is.
she said we can only declare like "String[] children;" in classEither you misundetstood your lecturer ...
There's nothing actually wrong withclass Employee{
    String[] children = new String[5];
}But it has the inherent limitation that you can't put the fathers name on the 6'th child's birth certificate... because the dumb computer won't let you... Hence it is poor practice.
A better implementation would be:class Employee{
    private List<String> children = new ArrayList<String>();
}because it doesn't impose an artificial limit on the number of kids a bloke can have.
keith.