I have just been reading (JDK1.3: ch10) about Sets and Vectors and Hash maps. I was wondering about the HashMap entries: a pair of an object and a key. The key object's hashCode refers to the value object. That enables you to find it later in a filed HashMap, like in the Phone book example: where the String name is the key to finding the phone number.

Now isn't it simpler to just add a "phone number" data member to the Person class, and put all those "persons" in a Person[] array (or perhaps in a Vector)?

What then are the advantages of using a HashMap?

And why all this trouble of creating keys in a way that is PRONE TO ERROR? As two different objects could generate a hashCode that is the same. Isn't that a bit clumsy?

So, what is the practical use of a HashMap?
Please..

Francis
The Netherlands

The main benefit of a HashMap implementation is its speed in accessing the data it contains.

Cheers

Martyn

Thanks Martyn,
 I understand.. SPEED of access to existing data collections is the principle advantage of a HashMap..

But should we:
1. take the trouble of checking whether the new HashCode already exists as a key in the HashMap, thus LOSING SPEED in creating the entry?
or 2. take the trouble of assuring that our HashCode will be unique in all possible circumstances, thus increasing the byte length and LOSING SPEED?

Ivor uses primes to create a HashCode. That example seems to opt for a middle way..

An extract from JavaDoc:

An instance of HashMap has two parameters that affect its performance: initial capacity and load factor. The capacity is the number of buckets in the hash table, and the initial capacity is simply the capacity at the time the hash table is created. The load factor is a measure of how full the hash table is allowed to get before its capacity is automatically increased. When the number of entries in the hash table exceeds the product of the load factor and the current capacity, the capacity is roughly doubled by calling the rehash method.

Cheers

Martyn

Thanks Martyn for the explanation of HashMap performance!
Can you also give some info on the HashCode?

1. Do we need to check if a HashCode already exists in the map?
2. How do we acertain the uniqueness of the HashCode in advance?

Paste away!
:0)
Francis

Have a look at this url, it explains things far better than I ever could:

http://java.sun.com/developer/online...02/July02.html


Cheers

Martyn

Great link Martyn,

I got to have my own internet connection..
Read all these great Sun online tutorials, that go so well with Ivor´s book and the API!!!

greetings!
FavaQ @ch10