gcc/libjava/java/util/RandomAccess.java

/* RandomAccess.java -- A tagging interface that lists can use to tailor
   operations to the correct algorithm
   Copyright (C) 2001 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

This file is part of GNU Classpath.

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permission to link this library with independent modules to produce an
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exception statement from your version. */


package java.util;

/**
 * Marker interface used to inform <code>List</code> implementations that
 * they support fast (usually constant time) random access. This allows
 * generic list algorithms to tailor their behavior based on the list
 * type.
 * <p>
 *
 * For example, some sorts are n*log(n) on an array, but decay to quadratic
 * time on a linked list.  As a rule of thumb, this interface should be
 * used is this loop:<br>
 * <code>for (int i = 0, n = list.size(); i &lt; n; i++) list.get(i);</code>
 * <br>runs faster than this loop:<br>
 * <code>for (Iterator i = list.iterator(); i.hasNext(); ) i.next();</code>
 *
 * @author Eric Blake <ebb9@email.byu.edu>
 * @see List
 * @since 1.4
 * @status updated to 1.4
 */
public interface RandomAccess
{
  // Tagging interface only.
}