Java: Sets

Sets are collections that allow only one object with a given value in them. The java.util.Set interface is a subinterface of Collection. There are two very useful concrete classes that implements sets:

java.util.HashSet is implemented with a hash table. Access time is O(1). Entries are unsorted.
java.util.TreeSet is implemented as a balanced binary tree. Access time is O(log N). Entries are sorted.

Set interface has all Collection interface methods

Sets implement all Collection methods.

HashSet class constructors

HashSet is implmented with an underlying HashMap. In addition to implemented the Set interface methods, HashSet has the following constructors.

Result	Constructor	Description
`hset =`	`new HashSet()`	Creates a new HashSet with default initial capacity 16 and load factor 0.75.
`hset =`	`new HashSet(initialCapacity)`	Creates a new HashSet with the specified initial int capacity.
`hset =`	`new HashSet(initialCapacity, loadFactor)`	Creates a new HashSet with the specified capacity which will not exceed a specified (float) load factor.
`hset =`	`new HashSet(coll)`	Creates a new HashSet with elements from the Collection coll

SortedSet interface methods

The SortedSet interface is used by TreeSet and adds additional methods to reflect that a TreeSet is sorted.

SortedSet sset;

Result	Method	Description
`comp =`	`sset.comparator()`	Returns Comparator used to compare elements. null if natural ordering used (eg, String).
`obj =`	`sset.firstKey()`	First element (in sorted order).
`obj =`	`sset.lastKey()`	Last element (in sorted order).
`sset =`	`sset.headMap(obj)`	Returns SortedSet of all elements less than obj.
`sset =`	`sset.tailMap(obj)`	Returns SortedSet of all elements greater than or equal to obj.
`sset =`	`sset.subMap(from, to)`	Returns SortedSet of all elements greater than or equal to from and less than to.

TreeSet class constructors

TreeSet implements the Set and SortedSet interface methods. TreeSet is implemented with an underlying TreeMap (balanced binary tree). If the element type has a natural order (eg, String) elements will be ordered by that, but often you will supply a Comparator object that tells how two elements compare. It has the following constructors.

Result	Constructor	Description
`tset =`	`new TreeSet()`	Creates new TreeSet. Elements sorted by natural order.
`tset =`	`new TreeSet(comp)`	Creates new TreeSet using Comparator comp to sort elements.
`tset =`	`new TreeSet(coll)`	Creates new TreeSet from Collection coll using natural ordering.
`tset =`	`new TreeSet(sset)`	Creates new TreeSet from SortedSet smp using element ordering from sset.