The problem

Object arrays are inferior to collections in almost every way. Prefer Set, List, or Multiset over an object array whenever possible.

A few of these issues are covered, in much greater detail, in Effective Java Item 28: Prefer lists to arrays.

Method Parameters

Don’t use object arrays as method parameters:

public void createUsers(User[] users) { ... }

Use an Iterable instead:

public void createUsers(Iterable<User> users) { ... }

Return Values

Don’t use object arrays as method return values:

public User[] loadUsers() { ... }

Use an ImmutableList (or ImmutableSet) instead:

public ImmutableList<User> loadUsers() { ... }

Additional Alternatives

If you have a 2-dimensional array (e.g., Foo[][]), consider using an ImmutableTable<Integer, Integer, Foo> instead.

Suppression

Suppress false positives by adding the suppression annotation @SuppressWarnings("AvoidObjectArrays") to the enclosing element.