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9 Java Data structures best 300+ Java Interview

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practices 300+ Java Interview FAQs 📌 

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 Posted on May 8, 2015
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#1: Choose the right type of Java data structure based on usage 100+ Java code quality Q&As

patterns 150+ Java coding Q&As


like fixed size or required to grow, duplicates allowed or not, ordering

is required to be maintained or not, traversal is forward only or bi-
directional, inserts at the end only or any arbitrary position, more 300+ Big Data Interview
inserts or more reads, concurrently accessed or not, modification is Q&As - Quick Prep FAQs
allowed or not, homogeneous or heterogeneous collection, etc. Also,
300+ Big Data Interview
keep multi-threading, atomicity, memory usage and performance
considerations discussed earlier in mind.
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#2: Favor unmodifiable data structures where applicable 250+ Python interview
FAQs 📌 

Use an immutable collection (aka unmodifiable collection) if you

don’t want to allow accidental addition or removal of elements once
created. The objects stored in a collection needs to implement its Key Areas & Companion
own immutability if required to be prevented from any accidental Techs FAQs
modifications.
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1 public class ReadOnlyExample {
2 public static void main(String args[ ]) {
3 Set<String> set = new HashSet<String>( );
4 set.add("Java");
5 set.add("JEE");
6 set.add("Spring"); 
7 set.add("Hibernate");
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8 set = Collections.unmodifiableSet(set); 800+ Enterprise & Core
9 set.add("Ajax"); // not allowed. Java Q&As
10 }
11 }
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Care should be taken not to unintentionally expose the collection
fields to the caller. The caller may not perform any necessary
validation.
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Bad Approach:
Tutorials - Golang 

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1 package encapsulation;
2 Tutorials - Enterprise Java 
3 import java.util.HashSet;
4 import java.util.Set;
5
6 public class BadCarYard {
7 //no duplicates allowed, hence use a Set
8 private Set<Car> carsCol = new HashSet<Car>(10);
9
10 //exposes the carsCol to the caller
11 public Set<Car> getCars( ) {
12 return carsCol;
13 }
14 ...
15 }

Good Approach:

1 package encapsulation;
2
3 import java.util.Collections;
4 import java.util.HashSet;
5 import java.util.Set;
6
7 public class GoodCarYard {
8
9 private Set<Car> carsCol = new HashSet<Car>( );
10
11 public void addCar(Car car) {
12 // throw exception early
13 if (car == null) {
14 new IllegalArgumentException("Cannot add null");
15 }
16 //more checks here to add a valid Car
17 carsCol.add(car);
18 }
19
20 public void removeCar(Car car) {
21 if (car == null) {
22 new IllegalArgumentException("Cannot add null");
23 }
24 //... more checks here before removing a car
25 carsCol.remove(car); 
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26 }
27
28 public Set<Car> getCars( ) {
29 // prevent addition or removal from outside this clas
30 return Collections.unmodifiableSet(carsCol);
31 }
32 }

#3: Thread-safety considerations of the Java data structures

If accessed by a single thread, synchronization is not required, and

arrays, lists, sets, stacks, etc can be used as a local variable. If your
collections are used as a local variables, the synchronization is a
complete overkill, and degrades performance considerably. On the
contrary, it is a bad practice to assume that the application is always
going to be single threaded and use data structures in a thread
unsafe manner, for example declaring it as an instance or static
variable. What if the application needs to scale to handle concurrent
access from multiple threads?

If accessed by multiple threads, prefer a concurrent collection like a

copy-on-write lists and sets, concurrent maps, etc over a
synchronized collection for a more optimized concurrent access.
Stay away from the legacy classes like Vectors and HashTables. In a
multi-threaded environment, some operations may need to be
atomic to produce correct results. This may require appropriate
synchronizations (i.e. locks). Improper implementation in a multi-
threaded environment can cause unexpected behaviors and results.

#4: Performance and memory considerations

The choices you make for a program’s data structures and

algorithms affect that program’s memory usage (for data structures)
and CPU time (for algorithms that interact with those data
structures). Sometimes you discover an inverse relationship
between memory usage and CPU time. For example, a one-
dimensional array occupies less memory than a doubly linked list
that needs to associate links with data items to find each data item’s
predecessor and successor. This requires extra memory. In contrast,
a one-dimensional array’s insertion/deletion algorithms are slower
than a doubly linked list’s equivalent algorithms because inserting a
data item into or deleting a data item from a one-dimensional array
requires data item movement to expose an empty element for
insertion or close an element made empty by deletion. Here are
some points to keep in mind.

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06/12/2024, 19:41 9 Java Data structures best practices | 800+ Big Data & Java Interview FAQs

a) The most important thing to keep in mind is scalability. Assuming

that a collection will always be small is a dangerous thing to do, and
it is better to assume that it will be big. Don’t just rely on the general
theories (e.g. Big-O theory) and rules. Profile your application to
identify any potential memory or performance issues for a given
platform and configuration in a production or production-like (aka
QA) environment.

b) Initialize your collection with an appropriate initial capacity to

minimize the number of times it has to grow for lists and sets, and
number of times it has to grow and rehash for maps.

1 List<String> list = new ArrayList<String>(40);

2 Map<String, String> map = new HashMap<String, String>(40);
3

c) Favor concurrent structures like ConcurrentHashMap, CopOnWrite

Lists/Sets, etc that allow concurrent reads. Use copy-on-write
classes and concurrent maps for better scalability. It also prevents
ConcurrentModificationException being thrown while preserving
thread safety.

1 List<Integer> list = new CopyOnWriteArrayList<Integer>();

#5: Code to interface & use generics

Easier to swap implementation from ArrayList to LinkedList if you

code to interface. Generics improve readability.

Bad:

1 ArrayList<String> list = new ArrayList<String>(100);

2

Good:

1 //program to interface so that the implementation can change

2
3 List<String> list = new ArrayList<String>(100);
4 List<String> list2 = new LinkedList<String>(100);
5

#6: Properly implement equals( … ) and hashCode( )

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06/12/2024, 19:41 9 Java Data structures best practices | 800+ Big Data & Java Interview FAQs

methods for the objects stored in the Java data structures. Learn
more What are the implications of implementing them incorrectly? —
In short, excess debug and rework time. Incorrect implementations
of equals( ) and hashCode( ) methods can result in data being lost in
HashMaps and Sets. You can also get intermittent data related
problems that are harder to consistently reproduce over time.

#7: Use immutable keys

Generally you use java.lang.Integer or java.lang.String class as the

key, which are immutable Java objects. If you define your own key
class, then it is a best practice to make the key class an immutable
object. If you want to insert a new key, then you will always have to
instantiate a new object as you cannot modify an immutable object.
If the keys were made mutable, you could accidentally modify the
key after adding to a HashMap, which can result in you not being
able to access the object later on. The object will still be in the
HashMap, but you will not be able to retrieve it as you have the
wrong key (i.e. a mutated key).

#8: Return zero length collections or arrays

as opposed to returning a null in the context of the fetched list is

actually empty. Returning a null instead of a zero length collection is
more error prone, since the programmer writing the calling method
might forget to handle a return value of null.

1 List<String> emptyList = Collections.emptyList( );

2 Set<Integer> emptySet = Collections.emptySet( );

#9: If using Java 8, use Stream

1 List<String> myList = Arrays.asList("Java", "JEE", "JDBC", "jN

2
3 //Functional Programming
4 myList
5 .stream()
6 .filter(s -> s.startsWith("j"))
7 .map(String::toUpperCase)
8 .sorted()
9 .forEach(System.out::println);

the above code is more concise & more readable.

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About Latest Posts

Arulkumaran Kumaraswamipillai
Mechanical Engineer to self-taught Java engineer in 1999. Contracting since 2002 as a Java Engineer &
Architect and since 2016 as a Big Data Engineer & Architect. Preparation & key know-hows empowered me
to attend 150+ job interviews, choose from 130+ job offers & negotiate better contract rates. Author of the
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