Can you explain how array element copying is performed and what methods exist for array cloning?

In Java, copying array elements can be done in several ways:

1. For loop — the simplest way, manually copying elements one by one:

int[] source = {1, 2, 3};
int[] dest = new int[source.length];
for (int i = 0; i < source.length; i++) {
    dest[i] = source[i];
}

2. System.arraycopy method — a more efficient way to copy blocks of an array:

int[] source = {1, 2, 3};
int[] dest = new int[source.length];
System.arraycopy(source, 0, dest, 0, source.length);

3. clone() method — creates a shallow copy of the array:

int[] source = {1, 2, 3};
int[] dest = source.clone();

4. Arrays.copyOf method — a convenient way to copy with the ability to change the size:

import java.util.Arrays;

int[] source = {1, 2, 3};
int[] dest = Arrays.copyOf(source, source.length);

All these methods create a shallow copy of the array, meaning for primitive type arrays, the values are copied, and for object arrays, the references to objects are copied.