Unit 7: ArrayList
Introduction to ArrayLists
Adapted from:
1) Building Java Programs: A Back to Basics
Approach
by Stuart Reges and Marty Stepp
2) Runestone CSAwesome Curriculum
https://longbaonguyen.github.io
Problem with Arrays
Consider the following problem: Read words from a text file and
store the data in memory.
String[] allWords = new String[2500];
Problem: You don't know how many words the text file contains.
The array above may be enough to store all the words from
Wordle(about 2300).
But what if the text file contains all of the works of Shakespeare?
– Hard to create an array of the appropriate size.
Luckily, there are other ways to store data besides in an array.
2
Lists
• list: a collection storing an ordered sequence of
elements
– each element is accessible by a 0-based index
– a list has a size (number of elements that have been
added)
– elements can be added to the front, back, or elsewhere
– in Java, a list can be represented as an ArrayList object
3
Idea of a list
• Rather than creating an array of boxes, create an object
that represents a "list" of items. (initially an empty list.)
[]
• You can add items to the list.
– The default behavior is to add to the end of the list.
[hello, ABC, goodbye, okay]
• The list object keeps track of the element values that have
been added to it, their order, indexes, and its total size.
– Think of an "array list" as an automatically resizing array
object.
– Internally, the list is implemented using an array and a size
field.
4
Type Parameters
(Generics)
ArrayList<Type> name = new ArrayList<Type>();
• When constructing an ArrayList, you must specify the
type of elements it will contain between < and >.
– This is called a type parameter or a generic class.
– Allows the same ArrayList class to store lists of different
types.
– Can store arraylist of String, Student, Sprite, Car objects,
etc…
ArrayList<String> names = new ArrayList<String>();
names.add("Marty Stepp");
names.add("Stuart Reges");
//notice the difference between arraylist & array 5
ArrayList methods (10.1)
boolean add(E obj) appends obj at end of list, returns true
void add(int index, inserts given obj just before the given
E obj) index, shifting subsequent values to the
right
E get(int index) returns the element at given index
E remove(int index) removes/returns value at given index,
shifting subsequent values to the left
void remove(E obj) remove by object(Not on AP, but useful for
some of our labs.
E set(int index, replaces value at given index with given
E obj) value, returns element that was
previously at index.
int size() returns the number of elements in list
toString()
Note: returns
E refers to the type a string
of objects representation
in the arraylist. of the list
such as "[3, 42, -7, 15]"
ArrayList class is part of the java.util package.
6
To use ArrayList: import java.util.*;
ArrayList vs. array
• construction
String[] names = new String[5];
ArrayList<String> list = new ArrayList<String>();
• storing a value
names[0] = "Jessica";
list.add("Jessica");
• retrieving a value
String s = names[0];
String s = list.get(0);
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ArrayList vs. array
ArrayList<String> list = new ArrayList<String>();
list.add(“Michael”);
list.add(“Jessica”);
list.add(“Lee”); //{“Michael”, “Jessica”, “Lee”}
list.add(1,“Sarah”);//{“Michael”, “Sarah”,”Jessica”, “Lee”}
String store=list.set(2,”Mary”)
//{Michael,Sarah,Mary,Lee}, store=“Jessica”
String store2=list.get(3);//store2=“Lee”
String store3=list.remove(1);
//{Michael,Mary,Lee}, store3=“Sarah”
8
Traversing an Arraylist
It is common to use for loops to access arraylist elements. This is
called
traversing the arraylist.
The list arrayList below is an arrayList of Strings from the previous
slides.
for (int i = 0; i < list.size(); i++) {
System.out.println(list.get(i));
}
Contrast this with an array also called list.
for (int i = 0; i < list.length; i++) {
System.out.println(list[i]);
}
9
Traversing an Arraylist
We can use a for each loop traverse the arraylist. The list arrayList below is
an arrayList of Strings from the previous slides.
for (String name: list) {
System.out.println(name);
}
Note this syntax is the same for both arrays and arraylists!
Do not use the enhanced for each loop if you want to add or remove
elements when traversing a list because it will throw
a ConcurrentModificationException error. Since for each loops do not use
an index, you cannot do this special case of incrementing only if it is
changed.
So if you are going to add or remove items or you need the index, use a
regular for loop or a while loop.
10
Common Error:Remove
Items
Removing an element from an arraylist requires care as elements
are shifted
left.
// Suppose allWords is an arraylist of words entered by
// user. Remove all words of length 3 from allWords.
for (int i = 0; i < allWords.size(); i++) {
String word = allWords.get(i);
if (word.length() == 3) {
allWords.remove(i);
}
}
This is an error! Once a word is removed, words are shifted to the
left, this will cause the next word to be skipped!
11
Remove Words
One way to fix the previous error is add a i-- correction.
// Suppose allWords is an arraylist of words entered by
// user. Remove all words of length 3 from allWords.
for (int i = 0; i < allWords.size(); i++) {
String word = allWords.get(i);
if (word.length() == 3) {
allWords.remove(i);
i--; //corrected
}
}
Can you think of another way of fixing this error?
12
Remove Words
Or alternatively, we can traverse the array backwards; this
eliminates the
need to do i--. Do you see why the following works?
// Suppose allWords is an arraylist of words entered by
// user. Remove all words of length 3 from allWords.
for (int i = allWords.size() - 1; i >= 0; i--) {
String word = allWords.get(i);
if (word.length() == 3) {
allWords.remove(i);
// i-- not needed!
}
}
13
ArrayList as parameter
A method can accept an arraylist as a parameter.
public static void name(ArrayList<Type> name) {
Write a method that count all of the letters in all of the Strings from
an
ArrayList of Strings.
public static int countLetters(ArrayList<String> list) {
int count = 0;
for (int i = 0; i < list.size(); i++) {
count += list.get(i).length();
}
return count;
}
14
ArrayList as parameter
Using for each:
public static int countLetters(ArrayList<String> list) {
int count = 0;
for (String item : list) {
count += item.length();
}
return count;
}
15
Returns an ArrayList
You can also return a list:
public static ArrayList<Type> methodName(params)
Write a method that accepts an array of String and return an
arraylist copy of
the array.
public static ArrayList<String> copy(String[] array)
{
ArrayList<String> result = new ArrayList<String>();
for (int i = 0; i < array.length; i++) {
result.add(array[i]);
}
return result;
}
16
ArrayList of primitives?
• The type you specify when creating an ArrayList must
be an object type; it cannot be a primitive type.
// illegal -- int cannot be a type parameter
ArrayList<int> list = new ArrayList<int>();
• But we can still use ArrayList with primitive types by
using wrapper classes in their place.
// creates a list of ints
ArrayList<Integer> list = new ArrayList<Integer>();
• Once you construct the list, use it with primitives as normal:
ArrayList<Double> grades = new ArrayList<Double>();
grades.add(3.2); //autoboxing
grades.add(2.7);
double myGrade = grades.get(0);//auto-unboxing
17
ArrayList of Integers
ArrayList<Integer> myList = new ArrayList<Integer>();
myList.add(50);
myList.add(30);
myList.add(20);
int total = 0;
for (int i = 0; i < myList.size(); i++){
total += myList.get(i);
}
System.out.println(total);
Output: 100
18
ArrayList "mystery"
ArrayList<Integer> list = new ArrayList<Integer>();
for (int i = 1; i <= 10; i++) {
list.add(10 * i);
}
What is in the arraylist list?
Answer: [10, 20, 30, 40, ..., 100]
for (int i = 0; i < list.size(); i++) {
list.remove(i);
}
System.out.println(list);
Answer: [20, 40, 60, 80, 100]
19
Out-of-bounds
• Legal indexes are between 0 and the list's size() - 1.
– Reading or writing any index outside this range will cause
an IndexOutOfBoundsException.
ArrayList<String> names = new ArrayList<String>();
names.add("Marty"); names.add("Kevin");
names.add("Vicki"); names.add("Larry");
System.out.println(names.get(0)); // okay
System.out.println(names.get(3)); // okay
System.out.println(names.get(-1)); // exception
names.add(9, "Aimee"); // exception
inde 0 1 2 3
x
value Mart Kevi Vic Larr
y n ki y 20
ArrayList "mystery" 2
ArrayList<Integer> list = new ArrayList<Integer>();
for (int i = 1; i <= 5; i++) {
list.add(2 * i); // [2, 4, 6, 8, 10]
}
What is the output of the following code?
for (int i = 0; i < list.size(); i++) {
list.add(i, 42); // add 42 at index i
}
System.out.println(list);
Answer: Infinite Loop!
21
ArrayList "mystery" 3
ArrayList<Integer> list = new ArrayList<Integer>();
for (int i = 1; i <= 5; i++) {
list.add(2 * i); // [2, 4, 6, 8, 10]
}
What is the output of the following code?
int size = list.size();
for (int i = 0; i < size; i++) {
list.add(i, 42); // add 42 at index i
}
System.out.println(list);
Answer:
[42, 42, 42, 42, 42, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10]
22
Objects storing
collections
• An object can have an array, list, or other collection as
a field.
public class Course {
private ArrayList<Student> students;
public Course() {
students = new ArrayList<Student>();
...
}
• Now each object stores a collection of data inside it.
23
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If you want to do well on the AP Exam, this would be your
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It is recommended that you buy the hard copy edition.
Many students like to simulate the actual AP Exam
experience by writing and working directly in the book. 24
Lab 1
Write the following static methods.
•Write the method smallest which accepts an arraylist of
integers and return the smallest. Your return type should be
an Integer. MUST USE a for each loop.
•Write the method longest which accepts an arraylist of
strings and return the longest string. Return the first one if
there are multiple longest strings. MUST USE a regular for
loop.
•Write the method remove which accepts an arraylist of
Integers list and an integer variable x. Remove all
occurrences of x in list.
25
Lab 2(Processing)
A random set of coins are placed randomly on the screen. The
tank moves around and collect the coins. A template for this
lab with comments explaining the lab is available on my
website here.
Here is the link to slides
that explain how to do
collision detection.
26
Lab 3(Processing)
Tank Shooting Lab: Download the template for this processing
lab on my website.
Tank shoots bullets.
Crate is removed if
hit by a bullet.
Score keeps track
of number of
crates hit.
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