/*
* Copyright (c) 2000, 2006, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
* ORACLE PROPRIETARY/CONFIDENTIAL. Use is subject to license terms.
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*/
package java.util;
/**
* Marker interface used by <tt>List</tt> implementations to indicate that
* they support fast (generally constant time) random access. The primary
* purpose of this interface is to allow generic algorithms to alter their
* behavior to provide good performance when applied to either random or
* sequential access lists.
*
* <p>The best algorithms for manipulating random access lists (such as
* <tt>ArrayList</tt>) can produce quadratic behavior when applied to
* sequential access lists (such as <tt>LinkedList</tt>). Generic list
* algorithms are encouraged to check whether the given list is an
* <tt>instanceof</tt> this interface before applying an algorithm that would
* provide poor performance if it were applied to a sequential access list,
* and to alter their behavior if necessary to guarantee acceptable
* performance.
*
* <p>It is recognized that the distinction between random and sequential
* access is often fuzzy. For example, some <tt>List</tt> implementations
* provide asymptotically linear access times if they get huge, but constant
* access times in practice. Such a <tt>List</tt> implementation
* should generally implement this interface. As a rule of thumb, a
* <tt>List</tt> implementation should implement this interface if,
* for typical instances of the class, this loop:
* <pre>
* for (int i=0, n=list.size(); i < n; i++)
* list.get(i);
* </pre>
* runs faster than this loop:
* <pre>
* for (Iterator i=list.iterator(); i.hasNext(); )
* i.next();
* </pre>
*
* <p>This interface is a member of the
* <a href="{@docRoot}/../technotes/guides/collections/index.html">
* Java Collections Framework</a>.
*
* @since 1.4
*/
public interface RandomAccess {
}