Lab 8
Lab 8
OBJECT-ORIENTED PROGRAMMING
LAB 8: COLLECTIONS OF DATA
I. Objective
After completing this lab tutorial, you can:
• Understand Generics, ArrayList, Vector, and HashMap in OOP.
II. Generics
There are programming solutions applicable to a wide range of data types. The code is the same other
than the data type declarations.
In Java, you can make use of generic programming: A mechanism to specify a solution without tying it
down to a specific data type.
Generic types naming conventions
In this lab tutorial, we have a list of naming conventions:
E – Element
K – Key
V – Value
T – Type
Generic Methods
You can write a single generic method declaration that can be called with arguments of different types.
Based on the types of arguments passed to the generic method, the compiler handles each method call
appropriately. Following are the rules to define Generic Methods.
• All generic method declarations have a type parameter section delimited by angle brackets (<
and >) that precede the method's return type (<E> in the next example).
• Each type parameter section contains one or more type parameters separated by commas. A type
parameter, also known as a type variable, is an identifier that specifies a generic type name.
• The type parameters can be used to declare the return type and act as placeholders for the types
of arguments passed to the generic method, which are known as actual type arguments.
• A generic method's body is declared like any other method’s. Note that type parameters can represent
only reference types, not primitive types (like int, double, and char…).
Example
// GenericMethod.java
public class GenericMethod {
public static <E> void printArray( E[] inputArray ) {
for(E element : inputArray) {
System.out.printf("%s ", element);
}
System.out.println();
}
}
// Test.java
public class Test {
public static void main(String args[]) {
Integer[] intArray = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5};
Double[] doubleArray = {1.1, 2.2, 3.3, 4.4};
Character[] charArray = { 'T', 'D', 'T', 'U' };
Generic Classes
A generic class declaration looks like a non-generic class declaration, except that the class name is
followed by a type parameter section.
As with generic methods, the type parameter section of a generic class can have one or more type
parameters separated by commas. These classes are known as parameterized classes or parameterized
types because they accept one or more parameters.
Example
// Box.java
public class Box<T> {
private T t;
public T get() {
return t;
}
}
// Test.java
public class Test {
public static void main(String[] args) {
Box<Integer> integerBox = new Box<Integer>();
Box<String> stringBox = new Box<String>();
integerBox.set(new Integer(10));
stringBox.set(new String("Hello World"));
III. ArrayList
The ArrayList class is a resizable array, which can be found in java.util package.
The difference between a built-in array and an ArrayList in Java is that the size of an array cannot be
modified (if you want to add or remove elements to/from an array, you have to create a new one). While
elements can be added and removed from an ArrayList whenever you want. Though, it may be slower
than standard arrays but can be helpful in programs where lots of manipulation in the array is needed.
• ArrayList inherits AbstractList class and implements List interface.
• ArrayList is initialized by size, however, the size can increase if the collection grows or shrinks
if objects are removed from the collection.
• Java ArrayList allows us to randomly access the list.
• ArrayList can not be used for primitive types, like int, char, etc. We need a wrapper class for
such cases.
Constructors
• ArrayList(): This constructor is used to build an empty array list
• ArrayList(Collection coll): This constructor is used to build an array list initialized
with the elements from collection c
• ArrayList(int capacity): This constructor is used to build an array list with the initial
capacity being specified
Methods
• add(Object obj): This method is used to append a specific element to the end of a list.
• add(int index, Object obj): This method is used to insert a specific element at a specific
position index in a list.
• get(int index): Returns the element at the specified position in this list.
• set(int index, E element): Replaces the element with the specified element at the
specified position in this list.
• remove(int index): Removes the element at the specified position in this list.
• remove(Object obj): Removes the first occurrence of the specified element from this list, if
it is present.
• clear(): This method is used to remove all the elements from any list.
• size(): Returns the number of elements in this list.
Example
import java.util.ArrayList;
mylist.add(10);
mylist.add("Hello");
mylist.add(true);
mylist.add(15.75);
int i = (Integer)mylist.get(0);
String s = (String)mylist.get(1);
boolean b = (boolean)mylist.get(2);
double d = (double)mylist.get(3);
import java.util.*;
class Test {
public static void main(String[] args) {
int n = 5;
ArrayList<Integer> arrlist = new ArrayList<Integer>(n);
for (int i=1; i<=n; i++)
arrlist.add(i);
System.out.println(arrlist);
arrlist.remove(3);
System.out.println(arrlist);
for (int i=0; i<arrlist.size(); i++)
System.out.print(arrlist.get(i)+" ");
}
}
IV. Vector
The Vector class implements a growable array of objects. Vectors fall in legacy classes but now it is
fully compatible with collections.
• Vector implements a dynamic array which means it can grow or shrink as required. Like an
array, it contains components that can be accessed using an integer index.
• They are very similar to ArrayList but Vector is synchronized and has some legacy methods that
the collection framework does not contain.
• It extends AbstractList and implements List interfaces.
Constructors
• Vector(): Creates a default vector of an initial capacity is 10.
• Vector(int size): Creates a vector whose initial capacity is specified by size.
• Vector(int size, int incr): Creates a vector whose initial capacity is specified by size
and increment is specified by incr. It specifies the number of elements to allocate each time that
a vector is resized upward.
• Vector(Collection coll): Creates a vector that contains the elements of collection coll.
Methods
• isEmpty(): Tests if this vector has no components.
• size(): Returns the number of components in this vector.
• add(E el): Appends the specified element to the end of this Vector.
• add(int index, E el): Inserts the specified element at the specified position in this Vector.
• remove(int index): Removes the element at the specified position in this Vector.
• remove(Object obj): Removes the first occurrence of the specified element in this Vector
if the Vector does not contain the element, it is unchanged.
• get(int index): Returns the element at the specified position in this Vector
• indexOf(Object obj): Searches for the first occurrence of the given argument, testing for
equality using the equals method.
• contains(Object obj): Tests if the specified object is a component in this vector.
Example
import java.util.Vector;
public class TestVector {
public static void main(String[] args) {
Vector<String> courses = new Vector<String>();
courses.add("501043");
courses.add(0, "501042");
courses.add("502043");
if (courses.contains("501043"))
System.out.println("501043 is in courses");
courses.remove("501043");
for (String c : courses)
System.out.println(c); // 501042 // 502043
}
}
V. HashMap
You learned that Arrays store items as an ordered collection, and you have to access them with an index
number (int type). A HashMap, however, stores items in "key: value" pairs, and you can access them
by an index of another type (e.g. a String).
One object is used as a key (index) to another object (value). It can store different types: String keys and
Integer values, or the same type, like String keys and String values.
You can learn more about LinkedHashMap, and TreeMap. In this section, we just focus on HashMap.
Constructors
Methods
• put(Object key, Object value): It is used to insert a particular key-value pair mapping
into a map.
• get(Object key): It is used to retrieve or fetch the value mapped by a particular key.
• replace(K key, V value): This method replaces the entry for the specified key only if it
is currently mapped to some value.
• remove(Object key): It is used to remove the values for any particular key in the Map.
• clear(): Used to remove all mappings from a map.
• size(): It is used to return the size of a map.
import java.util.HashMap;
people.put("John", 32);
people.put("Steve", 30);
people.put("Angie", 33);
VI. Exercises
1. Write a Java program:
• Create a class Person with attributes such as name and birth year. Write constructor, setter,
getter, and toString methods.
• Create a class Student that inherits from class Person with attributes id, score. Write
constructor, setter, getter, and toString methods.
• Create a class Employee that inherits from class Person with attributes id, salary. Write
constructor, setter, getter, and toString methods.
• Create class PersonModel and perform the following tasks:
import java.util.ArrayList;