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31 ArrayList

This document provides a quick reference for using ArrayLists in Java for implementing the Hangman assignment. It discusses declaring an ArrayList variable to store Strings, adding elements to the ArrayList using the add method, accessing elements using the get method by passing the index, and determining the size of the ArrayList using the size method. The document recommends reviewing Chapter 11.8 of the class textbook for more information on ArrayLists.

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15 views2 pages

31 ArrayList

This document provides a quick reference for using ArrayLists in Java for implementing the Hangman assignment. It discusses declaring an ArrayList variable to store Strings, adding elements to the ArrayList using the add method, accessing elements using the get method by passing the index, and determining the size of the ArrayList using the size method. The document recommends reviewing Chapter 11.8 of the class textbook for more information on ArrayLists.

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Mehran Sahami Handout #31

CS 106A October 31, 2007

ArrayLists Reference for Hangman


Based on a handout by Patrick Young

This handout gives you a quick reference for some of the concepts related to ArrayLists
that may be useful to you for implementing Part III of the Hangman assignment.

ArrayLists
You can think of an ArrayList as being a special object which is used to store a list of
other objects. In your case, you’ll be using an ArrayList to store the list of Strings which
can be chosen as words for Hangman.

Using ArrayLists
ArrayLists are defined in the java.util package. To use ArrayLists, you’ll need to
import the package:
import java.util.*;

Declaring an ArrayList variable


ArrayLists can store a variety of different types of information—for example, you can
create an ArrayList of GOvals, an ArrayList of GRects, or in the case of Hangman an
ArrayList of Strings.

When declaring a variable of type ArrayList, you’ll need to specify what type of data is
stored in the ArrayList using a special angular bracket notation. Your declaration will
look something like this:

private ArrayList<String> wordList;

The information in the angular brackets tells Java that this is an ArrayList of Strings.
ArrayLists themselves are objects and are created using constructors, just as GOvals and
GRects are created using constructors. Here is how we would create a new ArrayList and
assign it to our variable wordList:

wordList = new ArrayList<String>();

Adding elements to your ArrayList


Call the add method to add elements to your ArrayList. Because your ArrayList has been
declared to contain Strings, you can call the add method with a String as an argument:

String word = readLine("?"); // reading a String from the user


wordList.add(word);
Accessing elements of your ArrayList
To access an element of your ArrayList, you can call the get method, passing in the index
of the element you want to access. Remember, ArrayLists (as with regular arrays in Java)
are zero-indexed—in other words, the first element in the list is actually at index 0, the
second element is at index 1, and so forth. Because your list is declared to contain
Strings, Java assumes that the element returned by get is a String:

int index = 0; // index of first element in ArrayList


String word = wordList.get(index);

Determine the size of your ArrayList


Your ArrayList will keep track of the number of element which you have added. To
determine the number of elements in the ArrayList, call the size method:

int totalCount = wordList.size();

Chapter 11.8 is your friend for more information about ArrayLists


There’s a lot more to learn about ArrayLists. This handout is just providing a quick
references for the Hangman assignment. We will cover ArrayLists more extensively in
class and you can read more about ArrayLists in Chapter 11.8 of the class textbook.

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