Collection Framework in Java – Overview

A collections framework is a unified architecture for representing and manipulating collections. All collections frameworks contain the following:

Benefits of the Java Collections Framework

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: This Collections Framework provides high-performance, high-quality implementations of useful data structures and algorithms.

Collection Interfaces:

The core collection interfaces encapsulate different types of collections, which are shown in the figure below.

Collection — Root of the collection hierarchy. The Collection interface is the least common denominator that all collections implement. Some types of collections allow duplicate elements, and others do not.
Set — A collection that cannot contain duplicate elements.
List — An ordered collection. List can contain duplicate elements.
Queue — A collection used to hold multiple elements prior to processing. Queues typically, but do not necessarily, order elements in a FIFO (first-in, first-out) manner.
Deque — A collection used to hold multiple elements prior to processing. Deques can be used both as FIFO (first-in, first-out) and LIFO (last-in, first-out). In a deque all new elements can be inserted, retrieved and removed at both ends.
Map — An object that maps keys to values. A Map cannot contain duplicate keys; each key can map to at most one value.

The last two core collection interfaces are merely sorted versions of Set and Map:

SortedSet — A Set that maintains its elements in ascending order.
SortedMap — A Map that maintains its mappings in ascending key order.

This was just an overview, I will be covering each Interfaces and its implementation in upcoming posts marked under Collections category. Stay Tuned…

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