Java Generics and Collections - Speed Up the Java Development Process

This comprehensive guide shows you how to master the most importantchanges to Java since it was first released. Generics and the greatlyexpanded collection libraries have tremendously increased the power ofJava 5 and Java 6. But they have also confused many developers whohaven't known how to take advantage of these new features.

Java Generics and Collections covers everything from the mostbasic uses of generics to the strangest corner cases. It teaches youeverything you need to know about the collections libraries, so you'llalways know which collection is appropriate for any given task, andhow to use it.

Topics covered include:
Fundamentals of generics: type parameters and generic methods
Other new features: boxing and unboxing, foreach loops, varargs
Subtyping and wildcards
Evolution not revolution: generic libraries with legacy clients andgeneric clients with legacy libraries
Generics and reflection
Design patterns for generics
Sets, Queues, Lists, Maps, and their implementations
Concurrent programming and thread safety with collections
Performance implications of different collections

Generics and the new collection libraries they inspired take Java to anew level. If you want to take your software development practice toa new level, this book is essential reading.

Philip Wadler is Professor of Theoretical Computer Science at theUniversity of Edinburgh, where his research focuses on the design ofprogramming languages. He is a co-designer of GJ, work thatbecame the basis for generics in Sun's Java 5.0.

Maurice Naftalin is Technical Director at Morningside Light Ltd., a software consultancy in the United Kingdom. He has most recently served as an architect and mentor at NSB Retail Systems plc, and as the leader of the client development team of a major UK government social service system.

"A brilliant exposition of generics. By far the best book on thetopic, it provides a crystal clear tutorial that starts with thebasics and ends leaving the reader with a deep understanding of boththe use and design of generics."
Gilad Bracha, Java Generics Lead, Sun Microsystems

List of contents

Preface;
Obtaining the Example Programs;
How to Contact Us;
Conventions Used in This Book;
Using Code Examples;
Safari® Books Online;
Acknowledgments;
Part I: Generics;
Chapter 1: Introduction;
1.1 Generics;
1.2 Boxing and Unboxing;
1.3 Foreach;
1.4 Generic Methods and Varargs;
1.5 Assertions;
Chapter 2: Subtyping and Wildcards;
2.1 Subtyping and the Substitution Principle;
2.2 Wildcards with extends;
2.3 Wildcards with super;
2.4 The Get and Put Principle;
2.5 Arrays;
2.6 Wildcards Versus Type Parameters;
2.7 Wildcard Capture;
2.8 Restrictions on Wildcards;
Chapter 3: Comparison and Bounds;
3.1 Comparable;
3.2 Maximum of a Collection;
3.3 A Fruity Example;
3.4 Comparator;
3.5 Enumerated Types;
3.6 Multiple Bounds;
3.7 Bridges;
3.8 Covariant Overriding;
Chapter 4: Declarations;
4.1 Constructors;
4.2 Static Members;
4.3 Nested Classes;
4.4 How Erasure Works;
Chapter 5: Evolution, Not Revolution;
5.1 Legacy Library with Legacy Client;
5.2 Generic Library with Generic Client;
5.3 Generic Library with Legacy Client;
5.4 Legacy Library with Generic Client;
5.5 Conclusions;
Chapter 6: Reification;
6.1 Reifiable Types;
6.2 Instance Tests and Casts;
6.3 Exception Handling;
6.4 Array Creation;
6.5 The Principle of Truth in Advertising;
6.6 The Principle of Indecent Exposure;
6.7 How to Define ArrayList;
6.8 Array Creation and Varargs;
6.9 Arrays as a Deprecated Type?;
6.10 Summing Up;
Chapter 7: Reflection;
7.1 Generics for Reflection;
7.2 Reflected Types are Reifiable Types;
7.3 Reflection for Primitive Types;
7.4 A Generic Reflection Library;
7.5 Reflection for Generics;
7.6 Reflecting Generic Types;
Chapter 8: Effective Generics;
8.1 Take Care when Calling Legacy Code;
8.2 Use Checked Collections to Enforce Security;
8.3 Specialize to Create Reifiable Types;
8.4 Maintain Binary Compatibility;
Chapter 9: Design Patterns;
9.1 Visitor;
9.2 Interpreter;
9.3 Function;
9.4 Strategy;
9.5 Subject-Observer;
Part II: Collections;
Chapter 10: The Main Interfaces of the Java Collections Framework;
Chapter 11: Preliminaries;
11.1 Iterable and Iterators;
11.2 Implementations;
11.3 Efficiency and the O-Notation;
11.4 Contracts;
11.5 Collections and Thread Safety;
Chapter 12: The Collection Interface;
12.1 Using the Methods of Collection;
12.2 Implementing Collection;
12.3 Collection Constructors;
Chapter 13: Sets;
13.1 Implementing Set;
13.2 SortedSet and NavigableSet;
13.3 Comparing Set Implementations;
Chapter 14: Queues;
14.1 Using the Methods of Queue;
14.2 Implementing Queue;
14.3 BlockingQueue;
14.4 Deque;
14.5 Comparing Queue Implementations;
Chapter 15: Lists;
15.1 Using the Methods of List;
15.2 Implementing List;
15.3 Comparing List Implementations;
Chapter 16: Maps;
16.1 Using the Methods of Map;
16.2 Implementing Map;
16.3 SortedMap and NavigableMap;
16.4 ConcurrentMap;
16.5 ConcurrentNavigableMap;
16.6 Comparing Map Implementations;
Chapter 17: The Collections Class;
17.1 Generic Algorithms;
17.2 Collection Factories;
17.3 Wrappers;
17.4 Other Methods;
Colophon;

About the author

Maurice Naftalin is Director of Software Development at Morningside Light Ltd., a software consultancy in the United Kingdom. Maurice consults mainly in object-oriented technologies and teaches Java classes part-time at Learning Tree. He has three decades' experience as a programmer, team leader, and commercial trainer.

Philip Wadler is a professor of theoretical computer science at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, where his research focuses on functional and logic programming. He co-authored the Generic Java standard that became the basis for generics in Sun's Java 5.0 and also contributed to the XQuery language standard base. Professor Wadler received his Ph.D., in computer science from Carnegie-Mellon University and co-wrote "Introduction to Functional Programming" (Prentice-Hall).

Summary

Covers everything from the basic uses of generics to the strangest corner cases. This book covers: fundamentals of generics: type parameters and generic methods; boxing and unboxing, foreach loops; subtyping and wildcards; evolution not revolution; Design patterns for generics; Sets, Queues, Lists, Maps, and their implementations; and more.

Report

"Wer schon länger mit Java entwickelt, aber sich noch nicht vollständig in die Generics und Collections eingearbeitet hat, wird sich anhand der Beispiele sofort zurechtfinden und Programmier-Rezepte für den Alltag finden, die sich ohne große Mühe übernehmen lassen. Die Autoren beschreiben dabei nicht nur, wie sich ein bestimmtes Problem im Gegensatz zu früheren Java-Versionen nun besser und einfacher lösen läst. Sie erläutern beispielsweise auch, warum die Methoden des Collections-Frameworks teils effizienter sind und belegen dies anhand der O-Notation, mit der die Laufzeit von Algorithmen bewertet werden kann. [...] Für effiziente und zeitgemäße Java-Entwicklung sind die Generics- und Collections-APIs von essentieller Bedeutung. Wer sich umfassend über die Möglichkeiten des Frameworks informieren will, ist mit diesem Buch gut beraten." - IT-Rezensionen.de, Juli 2007

Product details

• Authors: Naftali, Maurice Naftalin, Naftalin Maurice, Wadler, Philip Wadler
• Publisher: O'Reilly Media
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 01.01.2006
• EAN: 9780596527754
• ISBN: 978-0-596-52775-4
• No. of pages: 294
• Weight: 376 g
• Illustrations: w. figs.
• Series: Java Ser.
• Subjects: Natural sciences, medicine, IT, technology > IT, data processing > Data communication, networks; Programmier- und Skriptsprachen, allgemein, collections, data structures, templates, java6, java5