The Collections Framework

The collections framework is a unified architecture for representing and manipulating collections, allowing them to be manipulated independently of the details of their representation. It reduces programming effort while increasing performance. It allows for interoperability among unrelated APIs, reduces effort in designing and learning new APIs, and fosters software reuse. The framework is based on nine collection interfaces. It includes implementations of these interfaces, and algorithms to manipulate them.

Overview

Overview - An overview of the Collections framework.

API Specification

API Reference - An annotated outline of the classes and interfaces comprising the collections framework, with links into the JavaDoc.

Tutorial

Tutorial - A tutorial introduction to the collections framework with plenty of programming examples.

API Enhancements

API Enhancements in J2SE 5.0 - An annotated list of API changes between the 1.4 and 5.0 releases.
API Enhancements in J2SDK 1.4 - An annotated list of API changes between the 1.3 and 1.4 releases.
API Enhancements in J2SDK 1.3 - An annotated list of API changes between the 1.2 and 1.3 releases.

Design FAQ

Design FAQ- Answers to frequently asked questions concerning the design of the collections framework.

Please send comments to: collections-comments@java.sun.com

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