Collections Hierarchy

Java maintains collections framework in java.util package.

Set, List, Map and Queue are the core interfaces in the Collections framework.

A Set is a special kind of Collection, a SortedSet is a special kind of Set, and so forth. Note also that the hierarchy consists of two distinct trees — a Map is not a true Collection.

Note that all the core collection interfaces are generic. For example, this is the declaration of the Collection interface.

The <E> syntax tells you that the interface is generic. When you declare a Collection instance you can and should specify the type of object contained in the collection. Specifying the type allows the compiler to verify (at compile-time) that the type of object you put into the collection is correct, thus reducing errors at runtime. For information on generic types, see the Generics lesson.

When you understand how to use these interfaces, you will know most of what there is to know about the Java Collections Framework. This chapter discusses general guidelines for effective use of the interfaces, including when to use which interface. You’ll also learn programming idioms for each interface to help you get the most out of it.

To keep the number of core collection interfaces manageable, the Java platform doesn’t provide separate interfaces for each variant of each collection type. Instead, the modification operations in each interface are designated optional — a given implementation may elect not to support all operations. If an unsupported operation is invoked, a collection throws an UnsupportedOperationException. Implementations are responsible for documenting which of the optional operations they support. All of the Java platform’s general-purpose implementations support all of the optional operations.

The following list describes the core collection interfaces:

Collection — the root of the collection hierarchy. A collection represents a group of objects known as its elements. The Collection interface is the least common denominator that all collections implement and is used to pass collections around and to manipulate them when maximum generality is desired. Some types of collections allow duplicate elements, and others do not. Some are ordered and others are unordered. The Java platform doesn’t provide any direct implementations of this interface but provides implementations of more specific subinterfaces, such as Set and List. Also see The Collection Interface section.
List — an ordered collection (sometimes called a sequence). Lists can contain duplicate elements. The user of a List generally has precise control over where in the list each element is inserted and can access elements by their integer index (position). If you’ve used Vector, you’re familiar with the general flavor of List.
Set — a collection that cannot contain duplicate elements. This interface models the mathematical set abstraction and is used to represent sets, such as the cards comprising a poker hand, the courses making up a student’s schedule, or the processes running on a machine. See also The Set Interface section.
Also see The List Interface section.
Queue — a collection used to hold multiple elements prior to processing. Besides basic Collection operations, a Queue provides additional insertion, extraction, and inspection operations.Queues typically, but do not necessarily, order elements in a FIFO (first-in, first-out) manner. Among the exceptions are priority queues, which order elements according to a supplied comparator or the elements’ natural ordering. Whatever the ordering used, the head of the queue is the element that would be removed by a call to remove or poll. In a FIFO queue, all new elements are inserted at the tail of the queue. Other kinds of queues may use different placement rules. Every Queue implementation must specify its ordering properties. Also see The Queue Interface section.
Map — an object that maps keys to values. A Map cannot contain duplicate keys; each key can map to at most one value. If you’ve used Hashtable, you’re already familiar with the basics of Map. Also see The Map Interface section.

The last two core collection interfaces are merely sorted versions of Set and Map:

SortedSet — a Set that maintains its elements in ascending order. Several additional operations are provided to take advantage of the ordering. Sorted sets are used for naturally ordered sets, such as word lists and membership rolls. Also see The SortedSet Interface section.
SortedMap — a Map that maintains its mappings in ascending key order. This is the Map analog of SortedSet. Sorted maps are used for naturally ordered collections of key/value pairs, such as dictionaries and telephone directories. Also see The SortedMap Interface section.

Below is the low level hierarchical diagram of the Collections framework.

To learn more about the implementations of each interface, please follow the below sections.

List interface:

ArrayList class
LinkedList class

Set Interface:

HashSet class
LinkedHashSet class
TreeSet class

Map Interface:

HashMap class
LinkedHashMap class
TreeMap class
Hashtable class

Specialized Collections:

EnumSet: Specialized Set implementation for use with enum types.
EnumMap: Specialized Map implementation for use with enum keys.
WeakHashMap: A Map implementation with weak keys; entries are removed when their keys are no longer referenced outside of the map.
ConcurrentHashMap: A thread-safe variant of HashMap that allows concurrent access and modifications.