> There are a few things  I don't get:


> (1) what are these brackets  for,

They declare an Array.

> (2) do you ever put  anything inside  them,

Sometimes, but not where you have them :)

(3) do they only go after the word  "String"

No they can go after any Object (include an Object that you wrote yourself)

> (4) are you supposed to have a space  before
> the [] or not?

It doesn't really matter, but my advice is to not put a space after it.
At least untill you are a insane Code Ninja, then you can do what you
are want.

>
> Any help  on this would be great. The book  I'm using doesn't seem to
> explain these brackets--why they're there, what they're used for,
> etc. Are they just symbolic of something having to do
> with "arguments"? I'm totally clueless.

Someone will probably jump on my head for this description but I find
that people understand this idea of it more than other explanations.

Arrays are basically a list of stuff. The stuff you put into it are
Objects (like in your case String Objects).

String[] list;

This tells the Java compiler to get ready to remember a list of Strings
which will be called list.

list = new String[5];

This tells the Java compiler to make the list 5 elements long (from 0 – 4)

Then you could write stuff to the list like

list[0] = “ABC”;

Which would make the item in the very first element equal to the String
“ABC”.