Vector notation - Java vs Delphi

Question

Good morning everybody,
On this beautiful day I've the opportunity to learn java. I have to upgrade an existing application that makes use of a class 'TreeElement' with a (vector) field 'childs' .
public class TreeElement {
  private Vector childs;
  public Vector getChilds () { return childs; }
  public string label;
}In the vector childs instances of 'TreeElement' are stored. In that way a tree is formed, but that's not the question at hand.
I want to ask something about the java syntax. Is it necessary to write all this (especially the second part)?
Vector layer = null;
TreeElement element = null;
String label = null;
layer = tree.getChilds();
element = (TreeElement) Layer.get(0);
name = element.label;Firstly, a vector has to be defined to store the childs. Secondly a TreeElement has to be defined to store each child. Also a typecast seems to be necessary. And only now is it possible to access the method name.
In Delphi this would be
Name = tree.childs[0].label;And this can be written even shorter when making use of default properties:
Name = tree[0].label;Is something alike possible in java?name = tree.getChilds().get(0).labelWhy not?

Answer 1

With Java 1.5 you can write public class TreeElement {
  private List<TreeElement> children;
  public List<TreeElement> getChilds () { return children; }
  public String label;
}and name = tree.getChilds().get(0).label