Better practice to re-instantiate a List or invoke clear()

Question

Using Java (1.6) is it better to call the clear() method on a List or just re-instantiate the reference?

I have an ArrayList that is filled with an unknown number of

Answer 1

There is no advantage for list.clear() than new XXList. Here is my investigation to compare performance.

            import java.util.ArrayList;
            import java.util.List;

            public class ClearList {


                public static void testClear(int m, int n) {
                    List list = new ArrayList<>();
                    long start = System.currentTimeMillis();

                    for (int i = 0; i < m; i++) {
                        for (int j = 0; j < n; j++) {
                            list.add(Integer.parseInt("" + j + i));
                        }
                        list.clear();
                    }

                    System.out.println(System.currentTimeMillis() - start);
                }

                public static void testNewInit(int m, int n) {
                    List list = new ArrayList<>();
                    long start = System.currentTimeMillis();

                    for (int i = 0; i < m; i++) {
                        for (int j = 0; j < n; j++) {
                            list.add(Integer.parseInt("" + j + i));
                        }
                        list = new ArrayList<>();
                    }

                    System.out.println(System.currentTimeMillis() - start);
                }

                public static void main(String[] args) {
                    System.out.println("clear ArrayList:");
                    testClear(991000, 100);
                    System.out.println("new ArrayList:");
                    testNewInit(991000, 100);
                }

            }


            /*--*
             * Out:
             *
             * clear ArrayList:
             * 8391
             * new ArrayList:
             * 6871
            */