java.util Collections Overview

Collections Overview

The Java Collections Framework standardizes the way in which groups of objects are handled by your programs. Collections were not part of the original Java release, but were added by J2SE 1.2. Prior to the Collections Framework, Java provided ad hoc classes such as Dictionary, Vector, Stack, and Properties to store and manipulate groups of objects. Although these classes were quite useful, they lacked a central, unifying theme. The way that you used Vector was different from the way that you used Properties, for example. Also, this early, ad hoc approach was not designed to be easily extended or adapted. Collections are an answer to these (and other) problems.

The Collections Framework was designed to meet several goals. First, the framework had to be high-performance. The implementations for the fundamental collections (dynamic arrays, linked lists, trees, and hash tables) are highly efficient. You seldom, if ever, need to code one of these “data engines” manually. Second, the framework had to allow different types of collections to work in a similar manner and with a high degree of interoperability. Third, extending and/or adapting a collection had to be easy. Toward this end, the entire Collections Framework is built upon a set of standard interfaces. Several standard implementations (such as LinkedList, HashSet, and TreeSet) of these interfaces are provided that you may use as-is. You may also implement your own collection, if you choose. Various special-purpose implementations are created for your convenience, and some partial implementations are provided that make creating your own collection class easier. Finally, mechanisms were added that allow the integration of standard arrays into the Collections Framework.

Algorithms are another important part of the collection mechanism. Algorithms operate on collections and are defined as static methods within the Collections class. Thus, they are available for all collections. Each collection class need not implement its own versions. The algorithms provide a standard means of manipulating collections.

Another item closely associated with the Collections Framework is the Iterator interface. An iterator offers a general-purpose, standardized way of accessing the elements within a collection, one at a time. Thus, an iterator provides a means of enumerating the contents of a collection. Because each collection provides an iterator, the elements of any collection class can be accessed through the methods defined by Iterator. Thus, with only small changes, the code that cycles through a set can also be used to cycle through a list, for example.

JDK 8 adds another type of iterator called a spliterator. In brief, spliterators are iterators that provide support for parallel iteration. The interfaces that support spliterators are Spliterator and several nested interfaces that support primitive types. JDK 8 also adds iterator interfaces designed for use with primitive types, such as PrimitiveIterator and

PrimitiveIterator.OfDouble.

In addition to collections, the framework defines several map interfaces and classes. Maps store key/value pairs. Although maps are part of the Collections Framework, they are not “collections” in the strict use of the term. You can, however, obtain a collection-view of a map. Such a view contains the elements from the map stored in a collection. Thus, you can process the contents of a map as a collection, if you choose.

The collection mechanism was retrofitted to some of the original classes defined by java.util so that they too could be integrated into the new system. It is important to understand that although the addition of collections altered the architecture of many of the original utility classes, it did not cause the deprecation of any. Collections simply provide a better way of doing several things.