There are some things about programming in Java that are not obvious just by learning from the language specification or standard API documentation. In this document I will try to collect the most frequently used idioms, especially ones that are hard to get right by guessing. (To learn even more, the book Effective Java by Joshua Bloch gives a much more thorough treatment of this topic.)
I hereby place all code on this page in the public domain. Feel free to copy and modify any snippet of code however you like without credit.
Contents
- Implementing:
- Using:
- Input/output:
- Defensive checking:
- Arrays:
- Packing:
Implementing equals()
class Person { String name; int birthYear; byte[] raw; public boolean equals(Object obj) { if (!obj instanceof Person) return false; Person other = (Person)obj; return name.equals(other.name) && birthYear == other.birthYear && Arrays.equals(raw, other.raw); } public int hashCode() { ... } }
- The parameter must be of type
Object
, not the type of the enclosing class. -
foo.equals(null)
must returnfalse
, not throw aNullPointerException
. (Note thatnull instanceof AnyClass
is alwaysfalse
, so the code above works.) - Compare primitive fields (e.g.
int
) using==
, compare object fields usingequals()
, and compare array-of-primitive fields usingArrays.equals()
. - When overriding
equals()
, remember to overridehashCode()
in a way that is consistent withequals()
. - See:
java.lang.Object.equals(Object)
Implementing hashCode()
class Person { String a; Object b; byte c; int[] d; public int hashCode() { return a.hashCode() + b.hashCode() + c + Arrays.hashCode(d); } public boolean equals(Object o) { ... } }
- When two objects
x
andy
havex.equals(y) == true
, you must ensure thatx.hashCode() == y.hashCode()
. - By contrapositive, if
x.hashCode() != y.hashCode()
, then it must be the case thatx.equals(y) == false
. - It is not required that when
x.equals(y) == false
, you havex.hashCode() != y.hashCode()
. But if you can make this occur as often as possible, then it improves the performance of hash tables. - The simplest legal implementation of
hashCode()
is simplyreturn 0;
. However, this will cause data structures likeHashMap
to run slowly, though correctly. - See:
java.lang.Object.hashCode()
Implementing compareTo()
class Person implements Comparable<Person> { String firstName; String lastName; int birthdate; // Compare by firstName, break ties by lastName, finally break ties by birthdate public int compareTo(Person other) { if (firstName.compareTo(other.firstName) != 0) return firstName.compareTo(other.firstName); else if (lastName.compareTo(other.lastName) != 0) return lastName.compareTo(other.lastName); else if (birthdate < other.birthdate) return -1; else if (birthdate > other.birthdate) return 1; else return 0; } }
- Always implement the generic version
Comparable<T>
rather than the raw typeComparable
because it saves code and hassle. - Only the sign of the returned result matters (negative/zero/positive), not the magnitude.
- Implementing
Comparator.compare()
is quite similar to this. - See:
java.lang.Comparable
Implementing clone()
class Values implements Cloneable { String abc; double foo; int[] bars; Date hired; public Values clone() { try { Values result = (Values)super.clone(); result.bars = result.bars.clone(); result.hired = result.hired.clone(); return result; } catch (CloneNotSupportedException e) { // Impossible throw new AssertionError(e); } } }
- Use
super.clone()
to make theObject
class be responsible for creating the new object. - The primitive fields are already copied properly. Also, there is no need to clone fields of immutable types such as
String
andBigInteger
. - Manually make a deep copy of all the non-primitive fields (objects and arrays).
- When the class implements
Cloneable
,clone()
will never throwCloneNotSupportedException
. So catch the exception and ignore it, or wrap it in an unchecked exception. - It’s also possible and legal to implement
clone()
manually without usingObject.clone()
. - See:
java.lang.Object.clone()
,java.lang.Cloneable
Using StringBuilder
/StringBuffer
// join(["a", "b", "c"]) -> "a and b and c" String join(List<String> strs) { StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder(); boolean first = true; for (String s : strs) { if (first) first = false; else sb.append(" and "); sb.append(s); } return sb.toString(); }
- Don’t use repeated string concatenation like this because it takes O(n2) time:
s += item;
- In
StringBuilder
orStringBuffer
, useappend()
to add text andtoString()
to get the entire accumulated text. -
StringBuilder
is preferred because it’s faster.StringBuffer
has all synchronized methods, which you usually don’t need. - See:
java.lang.StringBuilder
,java.lang.StringBuffer
Generating a random integer in a range
Random rand = new Random(); // Between 1 and 6, inclusive int diceRoll() { return rand.nextInt(6) + 1; }
- Always use the Java API method to generate random numbers in an integer range.
- Never try to improvise something like
Math.abs(rand.nextInt()) % n
because it is biased. Furthermore, the value can be negative whenrand.nextInt() == Integer.MIN_VALUE
. - See:
java.util.Random.nextInt(int)
Using Iterator.remove()
void filter(List<String> list) { for (Iterator<String> iter = list.iterator(); iter.hasNext(); ) { String item = iter.next(); if (...) iter.remove(); } }
-
remove()
acts on the most recent item returned bynext()
.remove()
can only be used once per item. - See:
java.util.Iterator.remove()
Reversing a String
String reverse(String s) { return new StringBuilder(s).reverse().toString(); }
- Maybe this ought to belong in the Java standard library.
- See:
java.lang.StringBuilder.reverse()
Starting a thread
The following 3 examples all accomplish the same thing, but in different ways.
By implementing Runnable
:
void startAThread0() { new Thread(new MyRunnable()).start(); } class MyRunnable implements Runnable { public void run() { ... } }
By extending Thread
:
void startAThread1() { new MyThread().start(); } class MyThread extends Thread { public void run() { ... } }
By anonymously extending Thread
:
void startAThread2() { new Thread() { public void run() { ... } }.start(); }
- Do not call
run()
directly. Always callThread.start()
, which creates a new thread and makes that new thread callrun()
. - See:
java.lang.Thread
,java.lang.Runnable
Using try
-finally
Example with I/O stream:
void writeStuff() throws IOException { OutputStream out = new FileOutputStream(...); try { out.write(...); } finally { out.close(); } }
Example with lock:
void doWithLock(Lock lock) { lock.acquire(); try { ... } finally { lock.release(); } }
- If the statement before the
try
fails and throws an exception, then thefinally
block won’t execute, but there is nothing to release anyway. - If a statement inside the
try
block throws an exception, then execution will jump to thefinally
block, execute as much as possible, then jump out of the method (unless there is another enclosingfinally
block).
Reading byte-wise from an InputStream
InputStream in = (...); try { while (true) { int b = in.read(); if (b == -1) break; (... process b ...) } } finally { in.close(); }
-
read()
either returns the next byte value (range 0 to 255, inclusive) from the stream or returns −1 if the stream has ended. - See:
java.io.InputStream.read()
Reading block-wise from an InputStream
InputStream in = (...); try { byte[] buf = new byte[100]; while (true) { int n = in.read(buf); if (n == -1) break; (... process buf with offset=0 and length=n ...) } } finally { in.close(); }
- Remember that
read()
does not necessarily fill all ofbuf
. You must consider the returned length in your processing logic. - See:
java.io.InputStream.read(byte[])
,java.io.InputStream.read(byte[], int, int)
Reading text from a file
BufferedReader in = new BufferedReader( new InputStreamReader(new FileInputStream(...), "UTF-8")); try { while (true) { String line = in.readLine(); if (line == null) break; (... process line ...) } } finally { in.close(); }
- The creation of the
BufferedReader
object is cumbersome. But it’s because Java treats bytes and characters as separate concepts (unlike C, for example). - You can replace the
FileInputStream
with any kind ofInputStream
, such as one from aSocket
. -
BufferedReader.readLine()
returnsnull
when the end of the stream is reached. - To read one character at a time instead, use
Reader.read()
. - You could use character encodings other than UTF-8, but it is inadvisable.
- See:
java.io.BufferedReader
,java.io.InputStreamReader
Writing text to a file
PrintWriter out = new PrintWriter( new OutputStreamWriter(new FileOutputStream(...), "UTF-8")); try { out.print("Hello "); out.print(42); out.println(" world!"); } finally { out.close(); }
- The creation of the
PrintWriter
object is cumbersome. But it’s because Java treats bytes and characters as separate concepts (unlike C, for example). - Just like with
System.out
, you canprint()
andprintln()
many types of values. - You could use character encodings other than UTF-8, but it is inadvisable.
- See:
java.io.PrintWriter
,java.io.OutputStreamWriter
Defensive checking: values
int factorial(int n) { if (n < 0) throw new IllegalArgumentException("Undefined"); else if (n >= 13) throw new ArithmeticException("Result overflow"); else if (n == 0) return 1; else return n * factorial(n - 1); }
- Never assume that numeric inputs are going to be positive, sufficiently small, etc. Check for these conditions explicitly.
- A well-designed function should behave correctly for all possible input values. Carefully ensure that all cases are considered and that bad output (such as overflow) is never generated.
Defensive checking: objects
int findIndex(List<String> list, String target) { if (list == null || target == null) throw new NullPointerException(); ... }
- Never assume that object arguments are not
null
. Check for this condition explicitly.
Defensive checking: array indexes
void frob(byte[] b, int index) { if (b == null) throw new NullPointerException(); if (index < 0 || index >= b.length) throw new IndexOutOfBoundsException(); ... }
- Never assume that a given array index is within bounds. Check explicitly.
Defensive checking: array ranges
void frob(byte[] b, int off, int len) { if (b == null) throw new NullPointerException(); if (off < 0 || off > b.length || len < 0 || b.length - off < len) throw new IndexOutOfBoundsException(); ... }
- Never assume that a given array range (i.e. “starting at
off
, going forlen
elements”) is within bounds. Check explicitly.
Filling array elements
Using a loop:
// Fill each element of array 'a' with 123 byte[] a = (...); for (int i = 0; i < a.length; i++) a[i] = 123;
Using the standard library method (preferred):
Arrays.fill(a, (byte)123);
Copying a range of array elements
Using a loop:
// Copy 8 elements from array 'a' starting at offset 3 // to array 'b' starting at offset 6, // assuming 'a' and 'b' are distinct arrays byte[] a = (...); byte[] b = (...); for (int i = 0; i < 8; i++) b[6 + i] = a[3 + i];
Using the standard library method (preferred):
System.arraycopy(a, 3, b, 6, 8);
Resizing an array
Using a loop (upsizing):
// Make array 'a' larger to newLen byte[] a = (...); byte[] b = new byte[newLen]; for (int i = 0; i < a.length; i++) // Goes up to length of A b[i] = a[i]; a = b;
Using a loop (downsizing):
// Make array 'a' smaller to newLen byte[] a = (...); byte[] b = new byte[newLen]; for (int i = 0; i < b.length; i++) // Goes up to length of B b[i] = a[i]; a = b;
Using the standard library method (preferred):
a = Arrays.copyOf(a, newLen);
Packing 4 bytes into an int
int packBigEndian(byte[] b) { return (b[0] & 0xFF) << 24 | (b[1] & 0xFF) << 16 | (b[2] & 0xFF) << 8 | (b[3] & 0xFF) << 0; } int packLittleEndian(byte[] b) { return (b[0] & 0xFF) << 0 | (b[1] & 0xFF) << 8 | (b[2] & 0xFF) << 16 | (b[3] & 0xFF) << 24; }
Unpacking an int
into 4 bytes
byte[] unpackBigEndian(int x) { return new byte[] { (byte)(x >>> 24), (byte)(x >>> 16), (byte)(x >>> 8), (byte)(x >>> 0) }; } byte[] unpackLittleEndian(int x) { return new byte[] { (byte)(x >>> 0), (byte)(x >>> 8), (byte)(x >>> 16), (byte)(x >>> 24) }; }
- Always use the unsigned right shift operator (
>>>
) for bit packing, never the arithmetic right shift operator (>>
).