Java Collections Framework

Figure 2.8:

The Java collections framework provides a set of interfaces and classes to implement various data structures and algorithms. For example, the LinkedList class of the collections framework provides the implementation of the doubly-linked list data structure. The Java collections framework provides various interfaces. These interfaces include several methods to perform different operations on collections.

The Java collections framework provides various data structures and algorithms that can be used directly. This has two main advantages:

1. We do not have to write code to implement these data structures and algorithms manually.
2. Our code will be much more efficient as the collections framework is highly optimized.

Moreover, the collections framework allows us to use a specific data structure for a particular type of data. Here are a few examples,

1. If we want our data to be unique, then we can use the Set interface provided by the collections framework.
2. To store data in key/value pairs, we can use the Map interface.
3. The ArrayList class provides the functionality of resizable arrays.