[Chapter 5] 5.2 Vectors
Author: Mark Grand and Jonathan Knudsen
Date: Fri Aug 8 16:11:54 1997

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| Chapter 5 Collections |

## 5.2 Vectors

The `Vector` class implements a variable-length array that can hold any kind of object. Like an array, the elements in a `Vector` are accessed with an integer index. However, unlike an array, the size of a `Vector` can grow and shrink as needed to accommodate a changing number of objects. `Vector` provides methods to add and remove elements, as well as ways to search for objects in a `Vector` and iterate through all of the objects.

You can create a `Vector` object using the constructor that takes no arguments.

    Vector v = new Vector()

This constructor creates an empty `Vector` with an initial capacity of 10. The capacity of a `Vector` specifies how many objects it can contain before more space must be allocated. You can improve the performance of a `Vector` by setting its initial capacity to a more appropriate value when you create it. For example, if you know that you are going to be storing close to 100 objects in a `Vector`, you could set the initial capacity as follows:

    Vector v = new Vector(100)

It can be time-consuming for a `Vector` to increase its capacity, so it is better to set the initial capacity based on a rough estimate of the number of objects a `Vector` will contain than to simply use the default capacity.

The capacity increment of a `Vector` specifies how much more space is allocated each time the `Vector` needs to increase its capacity. If you do not specify a capacity increment when you create a `Vector`, it uses the default value of 0, which causes the `Vector` to double in size every time it needs to increase its capacity. Doubling in size is a good way for a `Vector` to become large enough quickly when you have no idea what size it needs to be. However, if you do have a rough idea of the final size of a `Vector`, specifying a positive capacity increment is less wasteful of memory. For example, if you know that you will be putting 100 or so objects in a `Vector`, you could create it as follows:

    Vector v = new Vector(110, 20)

Once you have created an empty `Vector` object, you can put object references in it using the `addElement()` and `insertElementAt()` methods. The `addElement()` method adds an element to the end of a `Vector`. The following code fragment shows the use of the `addElement()` method:

    Vector v = new Vector();
    v.addElement("abc");
    v.addElement("jkl");
    v.addElement("xyz");

The `insertElementAt()` method inserts a new element into a `Vector` before a given position, so it can be used to insert an element at any position in a `Vector` except the last. Like arrays, `Vector` objects are indexed starting at 0. Here's how to insert an object at the beginning of the `Vector` object created above:

    v.insertElementAt("123", 0);

The `size()` method returns the number of elements in a `Vector` object.

After you have added some elements to a `Vector` object, you can retrieve elements with a number of different methods. For example, the `elementAt()` method fetches the object at the specified position in the `Vector`, while the `firstElement()` and `lastElement()` methods return the first and last objects in the `Vector`, respectively. Finally, the `elements()` method returns an `Enumeration` object that accesses the elements in the `Vector` object.

The `setElementAt()` method allows you to change the object stored at a specified position in the `Vector`, while the `removeElementAt()` method removes the object at a specified position from the `Vector`. The `removeElement()` method takes an object reference as an argument and removes the first element in the `Vector` that refers to the given object, if there is such an element. You can also remove all of the elements from the `Vector` using the `removeAllElements()` method.

The `Vector` class also provides some methods for searching the contents of a `Vector` object. For example, the `contains()` method returns `true` if a `Vector` contains a reference to a specified object. The `indexOf()` and `lastIndexOf()` methods return the positions of the first and last elements, respectively, in a `Vector` that match a specified object.

Enumerations |  | Stacks