The meaning of Java code (Object[])(Object[])arrayOfBytes[1]

Question

I have run into some piece of code and I cannot find the meaning of this particular part:

Object[] arrayOfObject = (Object[])(Object[])localObjectInputStream.readObject();
Help[] arrayOfHelp = (Help[])(Help[])arrayOfObject[0];

The question concernes (Object[]) on the first line and (Help[]) repeated twice. It looks very much like casting but then why double casting into the same type?

Your help is very much appreciated!

Answer 1

There is no point of doing so. Makes no extra difference but just kills the readability and causes confusion.

Answer 2

There's no good reason to apply the same cast twice, it's simply an error*/quirk of the original author.

There are very few places where a double-cast even with different types is meaningful. But with the same type, no, no point to that at all.

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* (a fairly harmless one, though it's not pretty)

Answer 3

I assume this is just a "bad" (in meaning of style and unnecessary) programming.