Java Programming Arraylist Linkedlist Hashset Treeset Hashmap Treemap Complete Guide

 Last Update:2025-06-22T00:00:00     .NET School AI Teacher - SELECT ANY TEXT TO EXPLANATION.    9 mins read      Difficulty-Level: beginner

Understanding the Core Concepts of Java Programming ArrayList, LinkedList, HashSet, TreeSet, HashMap, TreeMap

Java Programming: ArrayList vs. LinkedList vs. HashSet vs. TreeSet vs. HashMap vs. TreeMap

Overview

ArrayList

Details:

  • Type: Part of the List interface.
  • Internal Structure: Backed by a dynamic array.
  • Access Time Complexity: O(1) for random access (get/set).
  • Insertion/Deletion Time Complexity: Amortized O(1) for appending, O(n) for inserting/removing elements in the middle.
  • Threadsafety: Not thread-safe, use Collections.synchronizedList to make it thread-safe or consider CopyOnWriteArrayList.
  • Order: Maintains insertion order.
  • Duplicates: Allows duplicates.

Important Info:

  • Use an ArrayList when you need fast random access to elements.
  • It is efficient in operations that add elements only at its end.
  • Ideal for scenarios where you perform more read operations than write.

LinkedList

Details:

  • Type: Part of the List and Deque interfaces.
  • Internal Structure: Implements a doubly-linked list.
  • Access Time Complexity: O(n) for random access.
  • Insertion/Deletion Time Complexity: O(1) for insertions/deletions at the beginning and end of the list.
  • Threadsafety: Not thread-safe.
  • Order: Maintains insertion order.
  • Duplicates: Allows duplicates.

Important Info:

  • Suitable for operations involving frequent additions and removals from both ends.
  • Provides constant time complexity for adding and removing elements from the head or tail, but linear time for accessing elements by index.
  • Can be used as a stack or queue, thanks to its Deque implementation.

HashSet

Details:

  • Type: Part of the Set interface.
  • Internal Structure: Uses a hash table (backed by a HashMap).
  • Time Complexity: Average O(1) for add, remove, contains, and size operations.
  • Threadsafety: Not thread-safe.
  • Order: Does not guarantee any specific order of elements.
  • Duplicates: Does not allow duplicate elements.

Important Info:

  • Best for applications requiring quick addition, deletion, and lookup operations.
  • Ensures no duplicates by using an underlying hash table.
  • Does not maintain any order of elements, making iterations over a HashSet unpredictable.

TreeSet

Details:

  • Type: Part of the SortedSet interface.
  • Internal Structure: A NavigableSet based on a TreeMap.
  • Time Complexity: O(log n) for most operations (add, remove, contains, size).
  • Threadsafety: Not thread-safe.
  • Order: Sorted order.
  • Duplicates: Does not allow duplicates.

Important Info:

  • Ideal for maintaining ordered data sets.
  • Ensures that there are no duplicate elements.
  • Offers additional operations like finding nearest matches (higher(), lower()).

HashMap

Details:

  • Type: Part of the Map interface.
  • Internal Structure: Uses a hash table.
  • Time Complexity: Average O(1) for put, get, remove, and containsKey operations.
  • Threadsafety: Not thread-safe.
  • Order: Does not guarantee any particular order (except if using LinkedHashMap).
  • Duplicates: Keys are unique; values can have duplicates.

Important Info:

  • Provides high-performance key-value pair storage.
  • Suitable for applications where average-case constant-time performance is required.
  • Iteration over keys, values, or entries can yield unpredictable order unless specified.

TreeMap

Details:

  • Type: Part of the SortedMap interface.
  • Internal Structure: A Red-Black tree based NavigableMap.
  • Time Complexity: O(log n) for most operations (put, get, remove, containsKey).
  • Threadsafety: Not thread-safe.
  • Order: Sorted keys.
  • Duplicates: Keys are unique; values can have duplicates.

Important Info:

  • Maintains keys in sorted order.
  • Useful for scenarios where data must be maintained in a sorted form.
  • Supports range queries using methods like subMap(), headMap(), and tailMap().

General Keyword Context

The collections framework in Java (ArrayList, LinkedList, HashSet, TreeSet, HashMap, TreeMap) offers rich functionalities to handle data structures efficiently across various application domains:

  • Performance Optimization: Choosing the right collection type can significantly impact application performance.
  • Memory Management: These structures help in managing memory by handling object storage and resizing dynamically.
  • Iteration: They provide convenient ways to iterate through the elements, with support for forward and backward traversals.
  • Data Integrity: Classes like HashSet and TreeSet enforce uniqueness constraints.
  • Sorting: TreeSet and TreeMap automatically sort their elements, ensuring data integrity.
  • Concurrency: Java provides thread-safe variants or utilities for concurrent modifications in multithreaded applications.
  • Flexibility: The collections framework supports polymorphism and other OOP principles, making them flexible and reusable.

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Step-by-Step Guide: How to Implement Java Programming ArrayList, LinkedList, HashSet, TreeSet, HashMap, TreeMap

1. ArrayList

Step-by-Step Example:

Step 1: Import the ArrayList class

First, you need to import the ArrayList class from the java.util package.

import java.util.ArrayList;

Step 2: Create an ArrayList object

Create an instance of the ArrayList class. Typically, you specify the type of elements it will hold using generics.

public class ArrayListExample {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        // Create an ArrayList to store Strings
        ArrayList<String> arrayList = new ArrayList<>();

        // Adding elements to the ArrayList
        arrayList.add("Apple");
        arrayList.add("Banana");
        arrayList.add("Cherry");

        // Displaying elements of the ArrayList
        System.out.println("ArrayList: " + arrayList);
    }
}

Step 3: Access, modify, and remove elements

You can access, modify, and remove elements in an ArrayList.

// Accessing elements by index
String fruit = arrayList.get(1);  // Get the fruit at index 1 (Banana)
System.out.println("Fruit at index 1: " + fruit);

// Modifying elements by index
arrayList.set(1, "Blueberry");  // Change the fruit at index 1 to Blueberry
System.out.println("ArrayList after modification: " + arrayList);

// Removing elements by index or value
arrayList.remove(0);  // Remove the element at index 0 (Apple)
arrayList.remove("Cherry");  // Remove Cherry directly
System.out.println("ArrayList after removal: " + arrayList);

2. LinkedList

Step-by-Step Example:

Step 1: Import the LinkedList class

import java.util.LinkedList;

Step 2: Create a LinkedList object

public class LinkedListExample {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        // Create a LinkedList to store Strings
        LinkedList<String> linkedList = new LinkedList<>();

        // Adding elements to the LinkedList
        linkedList.add("Dog");
        linkedList.add("Cat");
        linkedList.add("Bird");

        // Displaying elements of the LinkedList
        System.out.println("LinkedList: " + linkedList);
    }
}

Step 3: Access, modify, and remove elements

// Accessing elements by index
String animal = linkedList.get(1);  // Get the animal at index 1 (Cat)
System.out.println("Animal at index 1: " + animal);

// Modifying elements by index
linkedList.set(1, "Fox");  // Change the animal at index 1 to Fox
System.out.println("LinkedList after modification: " + linkedList);

// Removing elements by index or value
linkedList.remove(0);  // Remove the element at index 0 (Dog)
linkedList.remove("Bird");  // Remove Bird directly
System.out.println("LinkedList after removal: " + linkedList);

3. HashSet

Step-by-Step Example:

Step 1: Import the HashSet class

import java.util.HashSet;

Step 2: Create a HashSet object

public class HashSetExample {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        // Create a HashSet to store Strings
        HashSet<String> hashSet = new HashSet<>();

        // Adding elements to the HashSet
        hashSet.add("Red");
        hashSet.add("Green");
        hashSet.add("Blue");

        // Displaying elements of the HashSet
        System.out.println("HashSet: " + hashSet);
    }
}

Note: Elements are stored in no particular order. Also, HashSet does not allow duplicate elements.

Step 3: Check for existence and remove elements

// Checking if an element exists in the HashSet
boolean containsGreen = hashSet.contains("Green");
System.out.println("Contains Green: " + containsGreen);

// Removing elements from the HashSet
hashSet.remove("Blue");  // Remove Blue directly
System.out.println("HashSet after removal: " + hashSet);

4. TreeSet

Step-by-Step Example:

Step 1: Import the TreeSet class

import java.util.TreeSet;

Step 2: Create a TreeSet object

public class TreeSetExample {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        // Create a TreeSet to store Integers
        TreeSet<Integer> treeSet = new TreeSet<>();

        // Adding elements to the TreeSet
        treeSet.add(5);
        treeSet.add(3);
        treeSet.add(8);

        // Displaying elements of the TreeSet
        System.out.println("TreeSet: " + treeSet);
    }
}

Note: Elements in TreeSet are stored in sorted order, and no duplicates.

Step 3: Perform operations like navigation to first and last element

// Accessing the first and last element in the TreeSet
int first = treeSet.first();  // Get the smallest element (3)
int last = treeSet.last();  // Get the largest element (8)

System.out.println("First element: " + first);
System.out.println("Last element: " + last);

// Removing elements from the TreeSet
treeSet.remove(5);  // Remove 5 directly
System.out.println("TreeSet after removal: " + treeSet);

// Additional: Navigating elements
Integer lower = treeSet.lower(8);  // Get the largest element less than 8 (3)
Integer higher = treeSet.higher(3);  // Get the smallest element greater than 3 (8)

System.out.println("Lower element of 8: " + lower);
System.out.println("Higher element of 3: " + higher);

5. HashMap

Step-by-Step Example:

Step 1: Import the HashMap class

import java.util.HashMap;

Step 2: Create a HashMap object

public class HashMapExample {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        // Create a HashMap to store (String, Integer) key-value pairs
        HashMap<String, Integer> hashMap = new HashMap<>();

        // Adding key-value pairs to the HashMap
        hashMap.put("Alice", 25);
        hashMap.put("Bob", 30);
        hashMap.put("Charlie", 35);

        // Displaying key-value pairs of the HashMap
        System.out.println("HashMap: " + hashMap);
    }
}

Step 3: Access, modify, and remove key-values

// Accessing the value of a key in the HashMap
int aliceAge = hashMap.get("Alice");
System.out.println("Alice's Age: " + aliceAge);

// Modifying the value of a key in the HashMap
hashMap.put("Alice", 26);  // Change Alice's age to 26
System.out.println("HashMap after modification: " + hashMap);

// Removing a key-value pair from the HashMap
hashMap.remove("Bob");  // Remove Bob's entry directly
System.out.println("HashMap after removal: " + hashMap);

6. TreeMap

Step-by-Step Example:

Step 1: Import the TreeMap class

import java.util.TreeMap;

Step 2: Create a TreeMap object

public class TreeMapExample {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        // Create a TreeMap to store (Integer, String) key-value pairs
        TreeMap<Integer, String> treeMap = new TreeMap<>();

        // Adding key-value pairs to the TreeMap
        treeMap.put(10, "Ten");
        treeMap.put(5, "Five");
        treeMap.put(20, "Twenty");

        // Displaying key-value pairs of the TreeMap
        System.out.println("TreeMap: " + treeMap);
    }
}

Note: Keys in TreeMap are stored in sorted order, and no duplicate keys are allowed. The values can be duplicate though.

Step 3: Access, modify, and remove key-values

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