Array List

CSE 143
Lecture 2
ArrayList
reading: 10.1
slides created by Marty Stepp

http://www.cs.washington.edu/143/
Exercise
• Write a program that reads a file and displays
the words of that file as a list.
– First display all words.
– Then display them with all plurals (ending in "s")
capitalized.
– Then display them in reverse order.
– Then display them with all plural words removed.
• Should we solve this problem using an array?

– Why or why not?
2
Naive solution
String[] allWords = new String[1000];
int wordCount = 0;
Scanner input = new Scanner(new File("data.txt"));

while (input.hasNext()) {
String word = input.next();
allWords[wordCount] = word;
wordCount++;
}
• Problem: You don't know how many words the file will
have.
– Hard to create an array of the appropriate size.
– Later parts of the problem are more difficult to solve.
• Luckily, there are other ways to store data besides in 3

Collections
• collection: an object that stores data; a.k.a. "data
structure"
– the objects stored are called elements
– some collections maintain an ordering; some allow
duplicates
– typical operations: add, remove, clear, contains (search),
size
– examples found in the Java class libraries:

• ArrayList, LinkedList, HashMap, TreeSet, PriorityQueue
– all collections are in the java.util package

import java.util.*;
4
Java collection
framework
5
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
6
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 7
ArrayList methods (10.1)
add(value) appends value at end of list
add(index, value) inserts given value just before the given
index, shifting subsequent values to the
right
clear() removes all elements of the list
indexOf(value) returns first index where given value is
found in list (-1 if not found)
get(index) returns the value at given index
remove(index) removes/returns value at given index,
shifting subsequent values to the left
set(index, value) replaces value at given index with given
value
size() returns the number of elements in list
toString() returns a string representation of the list
such as "[3, 42, -7, 15]" 8
ArrayList methods 2
addAll(list) adds all elements from the given list to this list
addAll(index, list) (at the end of the list, or inserts them at the given
index)
contains(value) returns true if given value is found somewhere in
this list
containsAll(list) returns true if this list contains every element from
given list
equals(list) returns true if given other list contains the same
elements
iterator() returns an object used to examine the contents of
listIterator() the list (seen later)
lastIndexOf(value returns last index value is found in list (-1 if not
) found)
remove(value) finds and removes the given value from this list
removeAll(list) removes any elements found in the given list from
this list
9
retainAll(list) removes any elements not found in given list from
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.
ArrayList<String> names = new ArrayList<String>();

names.add("Marty Stepp");
names.add("Stuart Reges");
10
Learning about classes
• The Java API Specification is a huge web page
containing documentation about every Java class and
its methods.
– The link to the API Specs is on the course web site.
11
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);
12
ArrayList vs. array 2
• doing something to each value that starts with "B"
for (int i = 0; i < names.length; i++) {
if (names[i].startsWith("B")) { ... }
}
for (int i = 0; i < list.size(); i++) {
if (list.get(i).startsWith("B")) { ... }
}
• seeing whether the value "Benson" is found

for (int i = 0; i < names.length; i++) {
if (names[i].equals("Benson")) { ... }
}
if (list.contains("Benson")) { ... }
13
Exercise, revisited
• Write a program that reads a file and displays
the words of that file as a list.
– First display all words.
– Then display them in reverse order.
– Then display them with all plurals (ending in "s")
capitalized.
– Then display them with all plural words removed.
14
Exercise solution
(partial)
ArrayList<String> allWords = new ArrayList<String>();
Scanner input = new Scanner(new File("words.txt"));
while (input.hasNext()) {
String word = input.next();
allWords.add(word);
}
System.out.println(allWords);
// remove all plural words

for (int i = 0; i < allWords.size(); i++) {
String word = allWords.get(i);
if (word.endsWith("s")) {
allWords.remove(i);
i--;
}
}
15
ArrayList as parameter
public static void name(ArrayList<Type> name) {
• Example:
// Removes all plural words from the given list.
public static void removePlural(ArrayList<String> list) {
for (int i = 0; i < list.size(); i++) {
String str = list.get(i);
if (str.endsWith("s")) {
list.remove(i);
i--;
}
}
}
• You can also return a list:

public static ArrayList<Type> methodName(params)
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 special classes called wrapper classes in their
place.
// creates a list of ints

ArrayList<Integer> list = new ArrayList<Integer>();
17
Wrapper classes
Primitive Wrapper
Type Type
int Integer
double Double
char Character
boolean Boolean
• A wrapper is an object whose sole purpose is to hold a primitive
value.
• Once you construct the list, use it with primitives as normal:

ArrayList<Double> grades = new ArrayList<Double>();
grades.add(3.2);
grades.add(2.7);
...
double myGrade = grades.get(0);
18
Exercise
• Write a program that reads a file full of numbers and
displays all the numbers as a list, then:
– Prints the average of the numbers.
– Prints the highest and lowest number.
– Filters out all of the even numbers (ones divisible by 2).
19
Exercise solution
(partial)
ArrayList<Integer> numbers = new ArrayList<Integer>();
Scanner input = new Scanner(new File("numbers.txt"));
while (input.hasNextInt()) {
int n = input.nextInt();
numbers.add(n);
}
System.out.println(numbers);
filterEvens(numbers);
System.out.println(numbers);
...
// Removes all elements with even values from the given list.
public static void filterEvens(ArrayList<Integer> list) {
for (int i = list.size() - 1; i >= 0; i--) {
int n = list.get(i);
if (n % 2 == 0) {
list.remove(i);
}
}
} 20
Other exercises
• Write a method reverse that reverses the order of the
elements in an ArrayList of strings.
• Write a method capitalizePlurals that accepts an

ArrayList of strings and replaces every word ending
with an "s" with its uppercased version.
• Write a method removePlurals that accepts an

ArrayList of strings and removes every word in the
list ending with an "s", case-insensitively.
21

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CSE 143

slides created by Marty Stepp

• Should we solve this problem using an array?

Scanner input = new Scanner(new File("data.txt"));

• Luckily, there are other ways to store data besides in 3

– examples found in the Java class libraries:

– all collections are in the java.util package

• You can add items to the list.

[hello, ABC, goodbye, okay]

• The list object keeps track of the element values that

• When constructing an ArrayList, you must specify the

ArrayList<String> names = new ArrayList<String>();

• seeing whether the value "Benson" is found

// remove all plural words

• You can also return a list:

• But we can still use ArrayList with primitive types by

// creates a list of ints

• Once you construct the list, use it with primitives as normal:

• Write a method capitalizePlurals that accepts an

• Write a method removePlurals that accepts an

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