QUALITY. PRODUCTIVITY. INNOVATION.

Basic Programming
Session 4

endava.com

Basic Programming

Garbage collection
String & StringBuilder
toString
Collections
ArrayList
HashSet
HashMap
Q&A

QUALITY. PRODUCTIVITY. INNOVATION.

Memory management and Garbage Collection

Memory management
Garbage collection is a way in which Java recollects the space occupied
by loitering objects.
In general, a garbage collector is responsible with three tasks:
Allocating memory for new objects
Ensuring that any reference objects (live objects) remain in
memory
Recovering memory used by objects
that are no longer reachable
3
(dead objects)
When Does the Garbage Collector Run?
How Does the Garbage Collector Work?

QUALITY. PRODUCTIVITY. INNOVATION.

Writing Code That Explicitly Makes

Objects Eligible for Collection
Nulling a Reference - set the reference variable

that refers to the object to null.

public class GarbageTruck {
public static void main(String [] args) {
StringBuffer sb = new
StringBuffer("hello");
System.out.println(sb);
// The StringBuffer object is not eligible
for collection
sb = null;
// Now the StringBuffer object is eligible
for collection
}

Reassigning a Reference Variable set the reference

variable to refer to another object.
class GarbageTruck {
public static void main(String [] args) {
StringBuffer s1 = new StringBuffer("hello");

StringBuffer s2 = new StringBuffer("goodbye");

System.out.println(s1);
// At this point the StringBuffer "hello" is
not eligible
s1 = s2; // Redirects s1 to refer to the
"goodbye" object

// Now the StringBuffer "hello" is eligible for

collection
}

QUALITY. PRODUCTIVITY. INNOVATION.

String
The String Class

KEY concept: once a String object is created, it can never

be changed !
Immutable Objects

Step 1
String myString = Hello;

The heap
Hello

myString
(reference
variable)

Step 2
String secondString =
myString;

myString
(reference variable)

The heap
Hello

secondString
(reference variable)

Step 3
myString =
myString.concat( World)

myString

The heap

(reference variable)

secondString

Hello World

Hello

(reference variable)

QUALITY. PRODUCTIVITY. INNOVATION.

Important Methods in the String class

QUALITY. PRODUCTIVITY. INNOVATION.

toString()

Implementing toString method in java is done by overriding the Objects toString method.

The java toString() method is used when we need a string representation of an object. It is defined in
Object class. This method can be overridden to customize the String representation of the Object.

Demo

7
Conclusion
Since our example has no toString method, the default one in Object is used. The format of the default
toString method of the Object is as shown below.
Class Name, @, and the hex version of the objects hashcode concatenated into a string.
The default hashCode method in Object is typically implemented by converting the memory address of the
object into an integer.

QUALITY. PRODUCTIVITY. INNOVATION.

The StringBuffer and StringBuilder

Classes
The java.lang.StringBuffer and java.lang.StringBuilder classes should be used
when you have to make a lot of modifications to strings of characters.

The StringBuilder class was added in Java 5. It has exactly the same API as the
StringBuffer class, except StringBuilder is not thread safe.
8

Sun recommends that you use StringBuilder instead of StringBuffer whenever

possible because StringBuilder will run faster.

QUALITY. PRODUCTIVITY. INNOVATION.

Important Methods in the StringBuffer

and StringBuilder Classes
public synchronized
StringBuffer
reverse()
public String
toString()

This method returns a StringBuffer object and updates the value of the StringBuffer
object that invoked the method call. In both cases, the characters in the StringBuffer
are reversed, the first character becoming the last, the second becoming the second
to the last, and so on:

This method returns the value of the StringBuffer object that invoked the method call
as a String
9

public synchronized
StringBuffer
append(String s)

update the value of the object that invoked the method, whether or not the return is
assigned to a variable. This method will take many different arguments, including
boolean, char, double, float, int, long, and others

public StringBuilder
delete(int start, int
end)

This method returns a StringBuilder object and updates the value of the StringBuilder
object that invoke the method call. In both cases, a substring is removed from the
original object.

public StringBuilder
insert(int offset,
String s)

This method returns a StringBuilder object and updates the value of the StringBuilder
object that invoked the method call. In both cases, the String passed in to the second
argument is inserted into the original StringBuilder starting at the offset location
represented by the first argument (the offset is zero-based).

QUALITY. PRODUCTIVITY. INNOVATION.

Java Collections

A collection represents a group of objects

java.util package.
They are basically used to group multiple elements into a single unit. Some collections
allow duplicate elements while others do not. Some collections are ordered and others are
not.

What can we do with a Collection?

10

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Add objects to the collection.

Remove objects from the collection.
Find out if an object (or group of objects) is in the collection
Retrieve an object from the collection (without removing it).
Iterate through the collection, looking at each element (object) one after another.

10

QUALITY. PRODUCTIVITY. INNOVATION.

11

11

QUALITY. PRODUCTIVITY. INNOVATION.

Classification

Lists - Lists of things (classes that implement List)

Sets - Unique things (classes that implement Set)

12

Maps - Things with an unique ID (classes that implement Map)

12

QUALITY. PRODUCTIVITY.
INNOVATION.

Collection Interface concrete implementation

classes
Class

Map

HashMap

Set

List

Ordered

Sorted

No

No

Hashtable

No

No

TreeMap

Sorted

By natural order or
custom comparison rules

LinkedHashMap

By insertion order
or last
13 access order

No

HashSet

No

No

TreeSet

Sorted

By natural order or
custom comparison rules

LinkedHashSet

By insertion order

No

ArrayList

By index

No

Vector

By index

No

LinkedList

By index

No

13

QUALITY. PRODUCTIVITY. INNOVATION.

ArrayList
add (Object o) - adds an object to the ArrayList

ArrayList supports dynamic arrays that can

grow as needed.
In Java, standard arrays are of a fixed length.
After arrays are created, they cannot grow or
shrink, which means that you must know in
advance how many elements an array will
hold. But, sometimes, you may not know until
run time precisely how large of an array you
need.
Solution: ArrayList a variable-length array
of object references. That is, an ArrayList can
dynamically increase or decrease in size.
Array lists are created with an initial size.
When this size is exceeded, the collection is
automatically enlarged. When objects are
removed, the array may be shrunk.
A java ArrayList is used to store an ordered
group of elements where duplicates are
allowed.

Most important methods

add(int index, Object o) adds the object o the the array list at
the given index
get(int index) - retrieves object reference from ArrayList index
position
size() - returns ArrayList size
remove(int index) - removes element at specified position in the
list. Shifts any subsequent elements to the left

14
remove (Object o) - removes the object o from the list
set(int index, Object o)- used for updating an element; it
replaces the element present at the specified index with the
object o
int indexOf(Object o)- finds the index in the list of the first
occurrence of the specified element. If the element is not
present in the list returns -1
Object get(int index) returns the object of list which is present
at the specified index
clear() - removes all the elements

14

boolean contains(Object o)- checks whether the given object o

is present in the array list
QUALITY. PRODUCTIVITY. INNOVATION.

HashSet

implements the Set interface

doesnt maintain any order, the elements
would be returned in any random order.
doesnt allow duplicates. If you try to add a
duplicate element in HashSet, the old value
would be overwritten.
allows null values however if you insert more
than one nulls it would still return only one
null value.
is non-synchronized

boolean add(Element e) - adds the element e to the Set

void clear() removes all the elements from the Set

boolean contains(Object o) checks whether the specified

Object o is present in the list or not. If the object has been
15found it returns true, false otherwise.

boolean isEmpty() returns true if there is no element in the

Set

Most important methods

int size()- returns the number of elements of a Set

Boolean remove(Object o) removes the specified object from

the Set

15

QUALITY. PRODUCTIVITY. INNOVATION.

HashMap
void clear()- removes all the keys and values form the specified
map

HashMap implementation provides constanttime performance for the basic operations

(get and put), assuming the hash function
disperses the elements properly among the
buckets.
It is not an ordered collection which means it
does not return the keys and values in the
same order in which they have been inserted
into the HashMap.
It does not any kind of sorting to the stored
keys and Values

boolean containsKey(Object key) returns true or false based

on whether the specified key is found in the map

boolean containsValue(Object Value)- similar to containsKey

method, however it looks for the specified value instead of key
Value get(Object key) returns the value of the specified key
boolean isEmpty() checks whether the map is empty

16
Set keySet()- returns the Set of the keys fetched from the map
value put(Key k, Value v)-inserts key value mapping into the
map.

Most important methods

int size() returns size of the map

Collection values() returns a Collection of values of map
Value remove(Object key)- removes the key-value pair for the
specified key

16

void putAll(Map m) copies all the elements of a map into the

specified map m
QUALITY. PRODUCTIVITY. INNOVATION.

Q&A

17

QUALITY. PRODUCTIVITY. INNOVATION.