Tutorials : How Do Java's Lists Measure Up? Comparing Arrays, Lists, and Maps :

How Do Java's Lists Measure Up? Comparing Arrays, Lists, and Maps

by Keld H. Hansen

In one of my last Java projects, I had to store a large number of ordered objects for display in a Web application. Sometimes the number of elements was quite large, maybe many thousands, and displaying them would, of course, involve a scrolling mechanism in the GUI.

Because the list of objects would be of a fixed size, the obvious solution was use an array, as this would ensure good performance when storing and retrieving elements from the array. But if the size is not fixed and elements need to be inserted, updated, or deleted at random spots in the list?

Java offers several solutions for storing objects in an ordered list: arrays, Lists, and Maps—to mention the best known. This article analyzes the performance benefits and drawbacks of these lists using several examples.

What Will Be Measured

1. Insert elements at the end of a list
2. Insert elements in the beginning of a list
3. Insert elements at random positions in a list
4. Access elements from the first to the last
5. Access elements from the last to the first
6. Access elements in random order
7. Update elements in random order

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