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Originally published at Internet.comJava Programming, Lecture Notes #1378 * Preface * Preview * Discussion and Sample Program * Summary * What's Next -----------------------------------
Preface
A miniseries
This lesson is part of a miniseries on Java data structures and the Java Collections Framework. The first lesson in the miniseries was entitled Data Structures in Java: Part 1, Getting Started. The previous lesson was entitled Data Structures in Java: Part 14, The Comparator Interface, Part 6.
The purpose of this miniseries is to help you learn the essential features of Object-Oriented data structures in Java using the Collections Framework.
A sub-series
This is also the first lesson in a sub-series on the toArray method. The primary purpose of the lessons in this sub-series is to teach you how to use the overloaded toArray method, which is declared in the Collection interface.
Viewing tip
You may find it useful to open another copy of this lesson in a separate browser window. That will make it easier for you to scroll back and forth among the different listings while you are reading about them.
Supplementary material
I recommend that you also study the other lessons in my extensive collection of online Java tutorials. You will find those lessons published at Gamelan.com. However, as of the date of this writing, Gamelan doesn't maintain a consolidated index of my Java tutorial lessons, and sometimes they are difficult to locate there. You will find a consolidated index at Baldwin's Java Programming Tutorials.
Preview
In earlier lessons, I used the toArray method, declared in the Collection interface, to copy elements from a collection into an array. However, in those lessons, I didn't take the time to fully explain how to use the method. Also, I didn't fully explain the precautions that you need to take when you use the method...
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