What are the characteristics of testing microservices at the component and module level compared to testing monolithic applications?

A reference array is an array that stores references (pointers) to objects, rather than the objects themselves. Each element in the array holds the address of an object in memory.

Key features:

• Stores references: Elements are addresses to objects.
• Object creation: Objects are created separately using new. The array itself is created with new.
• Default value: For reference types, default is null if not assigned.
• Dynamic size: The array size is fixed after creation, but objects can be dynamic.

Example in Java:

// Creating a reference array of String
String[] names = new String[3];

// Assigning references
names[0] = new String("Alice");
names[1] = "Bob"; // String literals also create objects

// Default value for uninitialized elements is null

// Accessing objects via references
int lengthOfFirstName = names[0].length();