Data Structures and the Java Collections Framework, Third Edition

PREFACE

This book is intended for an object-oriented course in data structures and algorithms. The implementation language is Java, and it is assumed that students have taken a first course in programming, not necessarily in Java. That course should have covered the fundamental statements and data types, as well as arrays. Chapter 0 supplies the material on Java that is fundamental to the remaining chapters, so it serves as a review for those with previous experience in Java, and brings Java novices up to speed.

WHAT'S NEW IN THE THIRD EDITION

This edition presents two major changes from the second edition. First, the Scanner class has replaced the BufferedReader and StringTokenizer classes. The Scanner class's versatility supports pattern matching as well as keyboard input and file input. Second, there is an increased emphasis on testing. In particular, the unit-testing features of JUnit 4 are introduced in Chapter 2 and integrated in applications throughout the remaining chapters.

THE JAVA COLLECTIONS FRAMEWORK

One of the distinctive features of this text is its emphasis on the Java Collections Framework, part of the java.utii package. Basically, the framework is a hierarchy with interfaces at each level except the lowest, and collection classes that implement those interfaces at the lowest level. The collection classes implement most of the data structures studied in a second computer-science course, such as a resizable array class, a linked-list class, a stack class, a queue ...