Without generics (this is java 1, remember) it seems like a reasonable tradeoff. Otherwise[1] you can't have array-modifying polymorphic code at all - how would you write a "reverse this array" function, for instance? You'd need one for every kind of array you want to reverse. Or a "copy" function - even if you're given a properly-sized-and-typed array to put the values in, you can't make a function that'd work on anything except a single type.

You could force every array-function-caller to cast their args to e.g. `Object[]`, but that seems like it'd require more work for even less safety. Though I'd love a read-only concept in Java, for read purposes :|

[1]: I think. If I'm wrong, someone please correct me!