size() is a method specified in java.util.Collection, which is then inherited by every data structure in the standard library. length is a field on any array (arrays are objects, you just don't see the class normally), and length() is a method on java.lang.String, which is just a thin wrapper on a char[] anyway.
Perhaps by design, Strings are immutable, and all of the top-level Collection subclasses are mutable. So where you see "length" you know that's constant, and where you see "size" it isn't.
Answer from MattPutnam on Stack Overflowsize() is a method specified in java.util.Collection, which is then inherited by every data structure in the standard library. length is a field on any array (arrays are objects, you just don't see the class normally), and length() is a method on java.lang.String, which is just a thin wrapper on a char[] anyway.
Perhaps by design, Strings are immutable, and all of the top-level Collection subclasses are mutable. So where you see "length" you know that's constant, and where you see "size" it isn't.
length is constant which is used to find out the array storing capacity not the number of elements in the array
Example:
int[] a = new int[5]
a.length always returns 5, which is called the capacity of an array. But
number of elements in the array is called size
Example:
int[] a = new int[5]
a[0] = 10
Here the size would be 1, but a.length is still 5. Mind that there is no actual property or method called size on an array so you can't just call a.size or a.size() to get the value 1.
The size() method is available for collections, length works with arrays in Java.
terminology - What is the difference between size and length? - Software Engineering Stack Exchange
length and length() in Java
java - Is there a technical difference between the terms "length" and "size" (in programming, of course)? - Stack Overflow
java - What's the difference between length and length()? - Stack Overflow
What is the reasoning behind why some objects use size() and some use length(). Why don't they all use one or the other?
In general, length() is used when something has a constant length, while size() is used on something with a variable length. Past that, I know of no good reason for using two nearly-synonymous terms.
Ideally, count would be the number of items, and size would be the amount of storage taken up (as in sizeof).
In practice, all three (including length, which is the most ambiguous) are muddled up in many widely-used libraries, so there's no point trying to impose a pattern on them at this stage.
.length;
directly accesses a field member.
.length();
invokes a method (i.e. an accessor) to access a field member.
in the case of String, this is to be expected since it's immutable.
Arrays are handled differently than Strings or ArrayLists or anything else that can be counted in Java. An Array is pretty much a native type and it's length can never be changed after it is initialized, so there's no need for encapsulation. The length variable can be directly exposed with no side effects.
The reason why String uses a method instead of a variable is because it internally uses a char[] that it doesn't want to expose publicly (for immutability/encapsulation), so it wraps the length variable in a length() method. It's the same reason ArrayList has a size() method instead of a length variable.
The only time you'll use the variable instead of the method is with arrays. Everything else will be methods. That is, you'll use the brackets for everything except arrays.