The Java Collections Framework

Chapters 7.5
 Outline
• Introduction to the Java Collections Framework
• Iterators
• Interfaces, Abstract Classes and Classes of the Java
Collections Framework
 Outline
• Introduction to the Java Collections Framework
• Iterators
• Interfaces, Abstract Classes and Classes of the Java
Collections Framework
 The Java Collections Framework
• We will consider the Java Collections Framework as a
good example of how to apply the principles of object-
oriented software engineering (see Lecture 1) to the
design of classical data structures.
 The Java Collections Framework
• A coupled set of classes and interfaces that implement
commonly reusable collection data structures.
• Designed and developed primarily by Joshua Bloch
(currently Chief Java Architect at Google).
 What is a Collection?
• An object that groups multiple elements into a single
unit.
• Sometimes called a container.
 What is a Collection Framework?
• A unified architecture for representing and manipulating
collections.
• Includes:
– Interfaces: A hierarchy of ADTs.
– Implementations
– Algorithms: The methods that perform useful computations,
such as searching and sorting, on objects that implement
collection interfaces.
• These algorithms are polymorphic: that is, the same method can be
used on many different implementations of the appropriate
collection interface.
 History
• Apart from the Java Collections Framework, the best-
known examples of collections frameworks are the C++
Standard Template Library (STL) and Smalltalk's
collection hierarchy.
 Benefits
• Reduces programming effort: By providing useful data structures
and algorithms, the Collections Framework frees you to concentrate
on the important parts of your program rather than on the low-level
"plumbing" required to make it work.
• Increases program speed and quality: Provides high-
performance, high-quality implementations of useful data structures
and algorithms.
• Allows interoperability among unrelated APIs: APIs can
interoperate seamlessly, even though they were written
independently.
• Reduces effort to learn and to use new APIs
• Reduces effort to design new APIs
• Fosters software reuse: New data structures that conform to the
standard collection interfaces are by nature reusable.
 Where is the Java Collections Framework?
• Package java.util.
• In this lecture we will survey the interfaces, abstract classes and
classes for linear data structures provided by the Java Collections
Framework.
• We will not cover all of the details (e.g., the exceptions that may be
thrown).
• For additional details, please see
– Javadoc, provided with your java distribution.
– Comments and code in the specific java.util.*.java files, provided
with your java distribution.
– The Collections Java tutorial, available at
http://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/collections/index.html
– Chan et al, The Java Class Libraries, Second Edition
Core Collection Interfaces
 Outline
• Introduction to the Java Collections Framework
• Iterators
• Interfaces, Abstract Classes and Classes of the Java
Collections Framework
 Traversing Collections in Java
• There are two ways to traverse collections:
– using Iterators.
– with the (enhanced) for-each construct
 Iterators
• An Iterator is an object that enables you to traverse through a collection
and to remove elements from the collection selectively, if desired.
• You get an Iterator for a collection by calling the collection’s iterator
method.
• Suppose collection is an instance of a Collection. Then to print out
each element on a separate line:
Iterator<E> it = collection.iterator();
while (it.hasNext())
System.out.println(it.next());
• Note that next() does two things:
1. Returns the current element (initially the first element)
2. Steps to the next element and makes it the current element.
 Iterators
Iterator interface:
public interface Iterator<E> {
boolean hasNext();
E next();
void remove(); //optional
}
• hasNext() returns true if the iteration has more elements
• next() returns the next element in the iteration.
– throws exception if iterator has already visited all elements.

• remove() removes the last element that was returned by next.

– remove may be called only once per call to next
– otherwise throws an exception.
– Iterator.remove is the only safe way to modify a collection during iteration
 Implementing Iterators
• Could make a copy of the collection.
– Good: could make copy private – no other objects could change
it from under you.
– Bad: construction is O(n).

• Could use the collection itself (the typical choice).

– Good: construction, hasNext and next are all O(1).
– Bad: if another object makes a structural change to the
collection, the results are unspecified.
 The Enhanced For-Each Statement
• Suppose collection is an instance of a Collection. Then
for (Object o : collection)
System.out.println(o);
prints each element of the collection on a separate line.
• This code is just shorthand: it compiles to use o.iterator().
 The Generality of Iterators
• Note that iterators are general in that they apply to any
collection.
– Could represent a sequence, set or map.
– Could be implemented using arrays or linked lists.
 ListIterators
• A ListIterator extends Iterator to treat the collection as a list, allowing
– access to the integer position (index) of elements
Iterator
– forward and backward traversal
– modification and insertion of elements. ListIterator
• The current position is viewed as being either
– Before the first element
– Between two elements
– After the last element
 ListIterators Iterator

• ListIterators support the following methods: ListIterator

– add(e): inserts element e at current position (before implicit cursor)
– hasNext()
– hasPrevious()
– previous(): returns element before current position and steps backward
– next(): returns element after current position and steps forward
– nextIndex()
– previousIndex()
– set(e): replaces the element returned by the most recent next() or previous() call
– remove(): removes the element returned by the most recent next() or previous() call
 Outline
• Introduction to the Java Collections Framework
• Iterators
• Interfaces, Abstract Classes and Classes of the Java
Collections Framework
 Levels of Abstraction
• Recall that Java supports three levels of abstraction:
– Interface
• Java expression of an ADT
• Includes method declarations with arguments of specified types, but
with empty bodies
– Abstract Class
• Implements only a subset of an interface.
• Cannot be used to instantiate an object.
– (Concrete) Classes
• May extend one or more abstract classes
• Must fully implement any interface it implements
• Can be used to instantiate objects.
 The Java Collections Framework (Ordered Data Types)

Interface Iterable

Abstract Class Collection

Class

Abstract List
Queue
Collection

Abstract Abstract
Queue List

Priority Abstract
Queue Sequential Array Vector
List List
Stack

Linked
List
 The Iterable Interface
• Allows an Iterator to be associated with an object.
• The iterator allows an existing data structure to be
stepped through sequentially, using the following
methods:
– hasNext() returns true if the iteration has more elements
– next() returns the next element in the iteration.
• throws exception if iterator has already visited all elements.
– remove() removes the last element that was returned by next.
• remove may be called only once per call to next
• otherwise throws an exception.
• Iterator.remove is the only safe way to modify a collection
during iteration
 The Java Collections Framework (Ordered Data Types)

Interface Iterable

Abstract Class Collection

Class

Abstract List
Queue
Collection

Abstract Abstract
Queue List

Priority Abstract
Queue Sequential Array Vector
List List
Stack

Linked
List
 The Collection Interface
• Allows data to be modeled as a collection of objects. In addition to
the Iterator interface, provides interfaces for:
– Creating the data structure
• add(e)
• addAll(c)
– Querying the data structure
• size()
• isEmpty()
• contains(e)
• containsAll(c)
• toArray()
• equals(e)
– Modifying the data structure
• remove(e)
• removeAll(c)
• retainAll(c)
• clear()
 The Java Collections Framework (Ordered Data Types)

Interface Iterable

Abstract Class Collection

Class

Abstract List
Queue
Collection

Abstract Abstract
Queue List

Priority Abstract
Queue Sequential Array Vector
List List
Stack

Linked
List
 The Abstract Collection Class
• Skeletal implementation of the Collection interface.
• For unmodifiable collection, programmer still needs to implement:
– iterator (including hasNext and next methods)
– size
• For modifiable collection, need to also implement:
– remove method for iterator
– add
 The Java Collections Framework (Ordered Data Types)

Interface Iterable

Abstract Class Collection

Class

Abstract List
Queue
Collection

Abstract Abstract
Queue List

Priority Abstract
Queue Sequential Array Vector
List List
Stack

Linked
List
 The List Interface
• Extends the Collections interface to model the data as an ordered
sequence of elements, indexed by a 0-based integer index
(position).
• Provides interface for creation of a ListIterator
• Also adds interfaces for:
– Creating the data structure
• add(e) – append element e to the list
• add(i, e) – insert element e at position i (and shift elements at i and above one to the right).
– Querying the data structure
• get(i) – return element currently stored at position i
• indexOf(e) – return index of first occurrence of specified element e
• lastIndexOf(e) – return index of last occurrence of specified element e
• subList(i1, i2) – return list of elements from index i1 to i2
– Modifying the data structure
• set(i, e) – replace element currently stored at index i with specified element e
• remove(e) – remove the first occurrence of the specified element from the list
• remove(i) – remove the element at position i
 The Java Collections Framework (Ordered Data Types)

Interface Iterable

Abstract Class Collection

Class

Abstract List
Queue
Collection

Abstract Abstract
Queue List

Priority Abstract
Queue Sequential Array Vector
List List
Stack

Linked
List
 The Abstract List Class
• Skeletal implementation of the List interface.
• For unmodifiable list, programmer needs to implement methods:
– get
– size
• For modifiable list, need to implement
– set
• For variable-size modifiable list, need to implement
– add
– remove
 The Java Collections Framework (Ordered Data Types)

Interface Iterable

Abstract Class Collection

Class

Abstract List
Queue
Collection

Abstract Abstract
Queue List

Priority Abstract
Queue Sequential Array Vector
List List
Stack

Linked
List
 The ArrayList Class
• Random access data store implementation of the List interface
• Uses an array for storage.
• Supports automatic array-resizing
• Adds methods
– trimToSize() – Trims capacity to current size
– ensureCapacity(n) – Increases capacity to at least n
– clone() – Create copy of list
– removeRange(i1, i2) – Remove elements at positions i1 to i2
– RangeCheck(i): throws exception if i not in range
– writeObject(s): writes out list to output stream s
– readObject(s): reads in list from input stream s
 The Java Collections Framework (Ordered Data Types)

Interface Iterable

Abstract Class Collection

Class

Abstract List
Queue
Collection

Abstract Abstract
Queue List

Priority Abstract
Queue Sequential Array Vector
List List
Stack

Linked
List
 The Vector Class
• Similar to ArrayList.
• But all methods of Vector are synchronized.
– Uses an internal lock to prevent multiple threads from concurrently executing
methods for the same vector object .
– Other threads trying to execute methods of the object are suspended until the
current thread completes.
– Helps to prevent conflicts and inconsistencies in multi-threaded code

• Vector is a so-called legacy class: no longer necessary for new

applications, but still in widespread use in existing code.
• Synchronization can be achieved with ArrayLists and other classes
of the Collections framework using synchronization wrappers (we
will not cover this).
 The Java Collections Framework (Ordered Data Types)

Interface Iterable

Abstract Class Collection

Class

Abstract List
Queue
Collection

Abstract Abstract
Queue List

Priority Abstract
Queue Sequential Array Vector
List List
Stack

Linked
List
 The Stack Class
• Represents a last-in, first-out (LIFO) stack of objects.
• Adds 5 methods:
– push()
– pop()
– peek()
– empty()
– search(e): return the 1-based position of where an object is on the stack.
 The Java Collections Framework (Ordered Data Types)

Interface Iterable

Abstract Class Collection

Class

Abstract List
Queue
Collection

Abstract Abstract
Queue List

Priority Abstract
Queue Sequential Array Vector
List List
Stack

Linked
List
 The Abstract Sequential List Class
• Skeletal implementation of the List interface.
• Assumes a sequential access data store (e.g., linked list)
• Programmer needs to implement methods
– listIterator()
– size()
• For unmodifiable list, programmer needs to implement list iterator’s methods:
– hasNext()
– next()
– hasPrevious()
– previous()
– nextIndex()
– previousIndex()
• For modifiable list, need to also implement list iterator’s
– set(e)
• For variable-size modifiable list, need to implement list iterator’s
– add(e)
– remove()
 The Java Collections Framework (Ordered Data Types)

Interface Iterable

Abstract Class Collection

Class

Abstract List
Queue
Collection

Abstract Abstract
Queue List

Priority Abstract
Queue Sequential Array Vector
List List
Stack

Linked
List
 The Queue Interface
• Designed for holding elements prior to processing
• Typically first-in first-out (FIFO)
• Defines a head position, which is the next element to be removed.
• Provides additional insertion, extraction and inspection operations.
• Extends the Collection interface to provide interfaces for:
– offer(e): add e to queue if there is room (return false if not)
– poll(): return and remove head of queue (return null if empty)
– remove(): return and remove head of queue (throw exception if empty)
– peek(): return head of queue (return null if empty)
– element(): return head of queue (throw exception if empty)
 The Java Collections Framework (Ordered Data Types)

Interface Iterable

Abstract Class Collection

Class

Abstract List
Queue
Collection

Abstract Abstract
Queue List

Priority Abstract
Queue Sequential Array Vector
List List
Stack

Linked
List
 The LinkedList Class
• Implements the List and Queue interfaces.
• Uses a doubly-linked list data structure.
• Extends the List interface with additional methods:
– getFirst()
– getLast()
– removeFirst()
– removeLast()
– addFirst(e)
– addLast(e)
• These make it easier to use the LinkedList class to create
stacks, queues and deques (double-ended queues).
 The LinkedList Class
• LinkedList objects are not synchronized by default.
• However, the LinkedList iterator is fail-fast: if the list is structurally
modified at any time after the iterator is created, in any way except
through the Iterator's own remove or add methods, the iterator will
throw a ConcurrentModificationException.
• This is detected at the first execution of one of the iterator’s methods
after the modification.
• In this way the iterator will hopefully fail quickly and cleanly, rather
than risking arbitrary, non-deterministic behavior at an undetermined
time in the future.
 The Java Collections Framework (Ordered Data Types)

Interface Iterable

Abstract Class Collection

Class

Abstract List
Queue
Collection

Abstract Abstract
Queue List

Priority Abstract
Queue Sequential Array Vector
List List
Stack

Linked
List
 The Abstract Queue Class
• Skeletal implementation of the Queue interface.
• Provides implementations for
– add(e)
– remove()
– element()
– clear()
– addAll(c)
 The Java Collections Framework (Ordered Data Types)

Interface Iterable

Abstract Class Collection

Class

Abstract List
Queue
Collection

Abstract Abstract
Queue List

Priority Abstract
Queue Sequential Array Vector
List List
Stack

Linked
List
 The Priority Queue Class
• Based on priority heap
• Elements are prioritized based either on
– natural order
– a comparator, passed to the constructor.
• Provides an iterator

• We will study this in detail when we get to heaps!

 The Java Collections Framework (Ordered Data Types)

Interface Iterable

Abstract Class Collection

Class

Abstract List
Queue
Collection

Abstract Abstract
Queue List

Priority Abstract
Queue Sequential Array Vector
List List
Stack

Linked
List
 Summary
• From this lecture you should understand:
– The purpose and advantages of the Java Collections Framework
– How interfaces, abstract classes and classes are used
hierarchically to achieve some of the key goals of object-oriented
software engineering.
– The purpose of iterators, and how to create and use them.
– How the Java Collections Framework can be used to develop
code using general collections, lists, array lists, stacks and
queues.
 For More Details
• Javadoc, provided with your java distribution.
• Comments and code in the specific java.util.*.java files,
provided with your java distribution.
• The Collections Java tutorial, available at
http://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/collections/index.html
• Chan et al, The Java Class Libraries, Second Edition