Gain insights into Java Collections Framework. Delve into lists, sets, and hashmaps. Learn about data modification, sorting, thread-safety, and internal workings for efficient usage.

Collection is one of the most important topics for Java programming. Without the proper knowledge of every collection type in Java, it becomes difficult for you to decide which option to pick in a particular scenario.

This course will give you a great understanding of all collection types available in the Collections Framework like lists, linked lists, sets, and hashmaps. 

After completing this course, you will know how data can be modified within a collection, how to sort a collection, and how it can be made thread-safe. You will also cover the internal working of each Java collection so you can work with them more efficiently.

Collections in Java

The internal workings of a **LinkedHashMap** are similar to the internal workings of  **HashMap** with one major difference. In **LinkedHashMap**, each **Entry** maintains the record of the **Entry** that was inserted before it and after it.

If we look at the **Entry** class of **LinkedHashMap**, then we can see that it has two extra fields in comparison to the **Entry** class of **HashMap**. These extra fields are *before* and *after*. For a given **Entry**, the before field points to the **Entry** that was inserted prior to this **Entry**. The _after_ field points to the **Entry** that was inserted after this **Entry**. 

```Java
static class Entry<K,V> extends HashMap.Node<K,V> {
    Entry<K,V> before, after;
    Entry(int hash, K key, V value, Node<K,V> next) {
        super(hash, key, value, next);
        }
    }
```

There are two additional fields in the **LinkedHashMap** namely *head* and *tail*. The *head* points to the first node that was inserted in the Map and *tail* points to the last node that was inserted in the Map.

Let's take a step by step look at how elements are inserted in a **LinkedHashMap**.

# Inserting the first element

Let’s consider creating a **LinkedHashMap** that stores the student information. The key is the id of the student and the value is the name of the student.  

We are inserting our first record, 123; “Roy” in **LinkedHashMap** on the tail. The following process will occur:

1. The hash of 123 will be calculated and based on the hash value, a bucket will be decided. Let's say the bucket is 5.
2. An Entry object is created with the key as **123** and the value as **Roy**. The before and after fields are set to null as this is the first record.
2. Since there is no element in the LinkedHashMap, both the head and tail variables are null. Now both these variables will point towards the newly created Entry.

Take a look at the internal workings of LinkedHashMap.


Let's Begin

Lists in Java

LinkedList in Java

CopyOnWriteArrayList in Java

Sets in Java

TreeSet in Java

HashMap In Java

TreeMap in Java

LinkedHashMap in Java

Additional Map Implementations

Arrays Class

Collections Class

LinkedHashMap: Internal Working