What is the difference between Type List and type ArrayList in Java

Question

Typelist v/s ArrayList. If anybody can help?

Answer 1

Always TypeList is preferred over ArrayList. The first has the advantage that the implementation of the List can change without affecting the rest of the code. This will be a difficult task to do with an ArrayList, not only because you will need to change ArrayList to LinkedList everywhere, but also because you may have used ArrayList specific methods.

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Answer 2

By List, you actually tell, that your object implements List interface only, but you don't specify what class your object belongs to.

By  ArrayList, you specify that your object class is a resizable-array.

So, the first version makes your code more flexible in future.

Class ArrayList - Resizable-array implementation of the List interface.

Interface List - An ordered collection (also known as a sequence). The user of this interface has precise control over where in the list each element is inserted.

Array - container object that holds a fixed number of values of a single type.