The collection framework is a set of high-performance classes used to store and manipulate groups of objects. This framework allows different types of collections to work in a similar manner and is designed around a set of standard interfaces. Several standard implementations of interfaces can be extended or adapted very easily. In this chapter, we will cover the following topics:
An introduction to the collection framework
Ordering of elements in collections
Class hierarchy of the main interfaces
The Iterable and Iterator interfaces
The List, Set, Queue, and Map collections implementation
Immutable collections
Choosing the right collection