Collection_FrameWrok1
 
Collection is a top level interface of java collection framework where as Collections is an utility class. Collections is further enhanced by Generics handling compile time error  due to wrong casting of data-types;
  • Collections Class: is an utility class in java.util package. It consists of only static methods which are used to operate on objects of type Collections
    • Collection.max()
    • Collection.min()
    • Collection.sort()
    • Collections.synchronizedCollection()
    • Collections.binarySearch()
    • Collections.disjoint()
    • Collections.reverse()
  • Collection Interface : Collection is a root level interface of the Java Collection Framework.
We all know that arrays are not resizable, and the size of the arrays are fixed. To overcome this drawback of arrays. Collection framework (Collections) were introduce in java from JDK 1.2.
Collection is a root level interface of the Java Collection Framework. Most of the classes in Java Collection Framework inherit from this interface. List, Set and Queue are main sub interfaces of this interface Java Collections interfaces is made up of a set of interfaces for working with groups of objects. Using collection framework , users can store the objects as List , Set, Queue or Map.
 Collections Framework:
  • interfaces : These are abstract data types that represent collections
  • implementations : implementations of the collection interfaces
  • algorithms: computations, such as searching and sorting, on objects that implement collection interfaces.
Picture speaks thousands word: the image below is taken form the provider. As indicated in the image, in Collections Framework the interfaces "Collection" and "Map" have no direct

  • Collection Frame work :
    • The Collection Interface is the foundation of Collection Framework,  few important  methods are listed below
      • boolean add(Object obj): returns false for an existing memeber, does not allow duplicates
      • boolean addAll (Collection c) : returns true when operation succeeded
      • void clear() : removes all elements
      • boolean contains (Object obj) : returns true when an element is present.
      • boolean containsAll(Collection c)
      • boolean equals(Object obj)
      • int hashCode(), int size()
      • boolean isEmpty()
      • Iterator itr()
      • Object[] toArray
    • Set interface extends Collection but forbids duplicates.
      • Implement by: HashSet, LinkedHashSet, EnumSet , TreeSet
    • List interface extends Collection, allowing duplicates it uses some kind of indexes, for position oriented operation.
      • Implement by: Vector, Stack, ArrayList, LinkedList
      • SortedSet  extends Collection
        • Implemented by
  • Map doest not extend Collection, operates with "Keys" to "value",  (presented under java.util), can't have duplicate keys
    • Implemented by: Hashtable, HashMap, LinkedHashMap, WeakHashMap, IdentityHashMap
    • Sorted map : Extends the Map interface.
    • Tree Map: guarantees the  order
    • HashMap doesn't guarantee the order
Collection Interface :