Collections

The single most common type of question encountered on Sun's Java Developer Connection forums has to do with the usage of collection classes in the java.util package. Since there are many Java developers out there that have migrated from other professions, this is not surprising. Those who haven't taken university-level data structures courses may find the collections to be a bit confusing. However, the proper use of collections is one of the cornerstones of quality Java programming. Therefore, this chapter will explore them in detail. We will cover the architecture of the collections framework and the usage and concepts behind each collection type. However, we won't cover many of the actual methods in the collections, since these are easily understood by studying the Javadoc. The goal of this discussion is to help you decide which collection to use and why it is the best for a specific job.