Comprehensive Guide to Java Collections

java collections

Container object:- It is an object that store group of other objects. This is called as container object.

Container Class:- It is a class or collection class whose object can store group of other object.

All the container classes are defined in java.util.* package.
Group of container collection classes called “Collection Framework”.

Collection framework:- Is a class library to handle a group of objects. A container object stores the reference of other objects. Reference-unique id given to object by the JVM at the time of creation.

Operations we will use with collections:-

Add objects to the collection.
Remove the objects from collection.
Find out if an object or group of objects in the collection.
Retrieve an objects from the collection.
Iterate through the collection, looking each element (object) one after
another.

Key interfaces of the collection Framework:-

Java Collections Framework Interfaces

Collection	Set	SortedSet
List	Map	SortedMap
Queue	NavigableSet	NavigableMap

Core concrete implementation classes:-

Java Collections Framework Interfaces

MAP	SET	LIST	QUEUE	UTILITIES
Hash Map	Hash Set	Array List	Priority Queue	Collections
Hashtable	Vector	SortedMap		Arrays
Tree Map	Tree Set	Linked List
Linkedhash Map

List:-

A list cares about the index.
The one thing that list has that non-list don’t have is a set of methods related to the index.
Those key methods include things like get(int index), index(object o),
add(int index, object o)and so on. All three list implementations are ordered by index postion.

List implementations are:-

Array List:-

Array List is a growable array.
Gives fast iteration and fast random access.
It is an ordered collection(by index), not sorted.
After 1.4 version, Array List implemented Random-access interface
(marker interface). This supports fast random access.
Choose this over Linked List when you need fast iteration but not
likely to be doing a lot of insertion and deletion.

Vector:-

Vector is basically the same as Array List but vector methods are synchronized for thread safety.
Vector is the only class other than Array List that implements Random access.
Normally we use Array List instead of vector because of synchronization methods hits performance.
If we need thread safety, there are utility methods in class collections that can help.
Collections.synchronizedList(list);

Linked List:-

A Linked List is order by index position. Like Array List, except that the
elements are doubly linked to one another.
This linkage gives you new methods for adding and removing from
beginning or end.
Iteration is slower than Array List.
Good in insertion and deletion.

Set:-

Set cares about uniqueness. It does not allow duplicates.
Equals () methods determines whether two objects are identical.

Set implementations:-

Hash Set:-

Hash Set is unsorted and unordered.
Use this class when you want a collection with no duplicate and don’t care about order when iterate through it.

Linked Hash Set:-

Linked HashSet is a order version of HashSet that maintains the double linked list across all elements.
Use this class inserted of HashSet when you care about the iteration order.
Iterate through the elements in the order in which they were inserted.

Tree Set:-

Tree Set is one of the two sorted collections (the other being TreeMap). It guarantees that the elements will be in ascending order according to the natural order.
Optionally, we can construct a TreeSet with a constructor that lets you give the collection you own rules for what the order should be by using comparable or comparator.

Map:-

Map cares about unique identifiers. Map provides a unique key (the id) to a specific value, where both key and the value are of course objects.
Map implementations let you things like search for a value based on the keys.
Map rely on the equals() method to determine whether two keys are the same of different.

Map implementations:-

Hash Map:-

Hash map gives you an unsorted, unordered map.
When you need a map and you don’t care about the order (when
you iterate through it). The HashMap is the best way to go.
Hash Map allows one null key and multiple null values.

Hash Table:-

Like vector, Hashtable has existed from prehistoric java times.
Name inconsistency: hashmap vs hashtable.
Hashtable is synchronized counterpart of hashmap.
Hashtable doesn’t allow anything that is null as key or value.

Linked HashMap:-

Maintains insertion order.
Slower than HashMap for adding and removing.
Can expect faster iteration with LinkedHashMap.

Tree Map:-

Tree map is a sorted map.
By default this means sorted by the natural order of the elements.
Like TreeSet, TreeMap lets you define a custom sort order(via comparable or comparator).

Java Collections Framework Classes

Java Collections Framework Classes
Class	Map	Set	List	Ordered	Sorted
HashMap	Yes			No	No
Hashtable				No	No
TreeMap	Yes			Sorted	By natural order or custom comparison rules
LinkedHashMap	Yes			By Insertion Order	No
HashSet		Yes		No	No
TreeSet		Yes		Sorted	By natural order or custom comparison rules
LinkedHashSet		Yes		By Insertion Order	No
ArrayList			Yes	By Index	No
Vector			Yes	By Index	No
LinkedList			Yes	By Index	No
PriorityQueue				Sorted	By to do order

Difference between Iterator and ListIterator?

Iterator Interfaces

No	Iterator	ListIterator
1	Iterator traverse the elements in forward direction only.	List Iterator traverses the elements in backward and forward directions both.
2	Iterator can be used in List, Set and Queeue.	ListIterator can be used in Linked only .

Difference between Iterator and Enumeration?

Iterator Interfaces

No	Iterator	Enumeration
1	Iterator can traverse legacy and non-legacy elements.	Enumeration can traverse only legacy elements.
2	Iterator is fall-fast.	Enumeration is not fall-fast
2	Iterator is slower than enumeration.	Enumeration is faster than iterator.

java collections

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