SCJPChGenericsandCollections.docVIP

SCJP Study Notes: Chapter 7 Generics and Collections  PAGE \* MERGEFORMAT 18 Chapter 7 Generics and Collections 1. Overriding hashCode( ) and equals( ) toString( ) – when System.out.println( ) = the toString( ) method is called 1.1 Overriding equals( ) == return true only if both reference refer to same object equals( ) return true when their contents are meaningfully equivalent if two diff. Integer instances have value of 5, it will return true For each class you write, you must decide if it makes sense to consider two diff instance equal. E.g. diff Car have same instance variables doesn’t means equal public boolean equals(Object o) { // NOTE that it is public and argument is Object if((o instanceof Car) (((Car)o).getCarValue( ) == this.carValue)) { return true; } else { return false; } } x.equals(null) = false 1.2 Overriding hashCode( ) Hashcodes are used to increase performance of large collections of data Collections (with hash in the name) use hashCode Put the name in bucket, represented by hashcode Two names may belong to the same bucket, so the code is not unique To be efficient, distribute evenly across all buckets Two step process Find the right bucket (using hashCode( )) Search the right element within the bucket (using equals( )) public int hashCode( ) { return (x * 17); } // override it, although not efficient 2. Collections 2.1 So What Do You Do with a Collection? Add objects to collection Remove objects from collection Find out if an object is in the collection Retrieve object from collection without removing it Iterate through the collection Not all collections in the Collections Framework actually implement the Collection interface. None of the Map – related classes and interfaces extend from Collection. collection – data structures in which objects are stored and iterated over Collection – java.util.Collection interface from which Set, List and Queue extend Collections – java.util.Collections that holds static utility methods, e.g. sor