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Java Collection Classes

The document discusses Java collection classes and frameworks. It introduces common collection classes like LinkedList and ArrayList, which allow grouping of objects into collections. It provides examples of using an ArrayList to store Student objects in a Course class. The key benefits of collections are reducing programming effort by providing useful data structures, and allowing unrelated APIs to interoperate through common collection interfaces.

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258 views13 pages

Java Collection Classes

The document discusses Java collection classes and frameworks. It introduces common collection classes like LinkedList and ArrayList, which allow grouping of objects into collections. It provides examples of using an ArrayList to store Student objects in a Course class. The key benefits of collections are reducing programming effort by providing useful data structures, and allowing unrelated APIs to interoperate through common collection interfaces.

Uploaded by

seenu
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Java Collection Classes

Com379PT
john.murray@sunderland.ac.uk
Collection Classes

 A collection is a grouping of objects


of the same class or sub class
 Java.util package
 LinkedList
 Generic linked list
 ArrayList
 Generic dynamic Array
What are Collections?

 Collections represent data items


that should be naturally grouped
 A poker hand (collection of cards)
 A mail folder (collection of letters)
 A telephone directory (a collection of
name to phone number mappings)
LinkedList & ArrayList
 Two types of Collection class
 Are used in the same way as each other:
Method Description

void add(Object o) Add o to the end of the list

void add(int I, Object o) Add to the i’th position object o

Object get(int i) Return the i’th object in the list

int size() Return the size of the list

 Note the type Object is used. All classes


extend Object.
Collections Framework

 All collection frameworks contain:


 Interfaces – Allow collections to be
manipulated independently of their representation.

 Implementations – Implementations of
the collection interfaces.

 Algorithms – Methods for performing


searches and sorting.
Collection example
Collection Types

 Array
 List
 Vector
 ArrayList
 Queue
 Associative Array
 Hashtable
 + More
ArrayList – Collection example
public class Student
{
private String name;

public Student(String aName)


{
this.name = aName;
}

public String getName()


{
return name;
}
}
ArrayList – Collection example
import java.util.ArrayList;

public class Course


{
private ArrayList studentList = new ArrayList(10);
private Student aStudent;

public void addStudent(String aName)


{
studentList.add(new Student(aName));
}

public Student getStudent()


{
aStudent = (Student)studentList.get(0);
return aStudent;
}
}
ArrayList – Collection example
public class TestCourse
{
public static void main(String [] args)
{
Course com379 = new Course();
com379.addStudent("John");
Student temp = com379.getStudent();
System.out.println("Name: " + temp.getName());
}
}
Casting

 Passing one object off as another


 When creating a collection the
default type is of Object
 When returning one of the position
in the list it is returned of type
object

 aStudent = (Student)studentList.get(0);
Iterating through the list

 If we have predefined our size we


may have some empty elements
 To list all available elements we
can iterate

Iterator it = list.iterator();
while (it.hasNext())
{
Student aStudent = (Student)it.next();
System.out.println(aStudent.toString());
}
Why use collections?
 It reduces programming effort?
 Provides useful data structures
 Allows you to concentrate in the
working of the code
 Allows interoperability among
unrelated API’s
 If your communication API has a
collection of IP’s and my GUI API
displays in TABS IP’s then they can
work together even though they were
written separately

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