Best way to get value from Collection by index

Question

What is the best way to get value from java.util.Collection by index?

Answer 1

In general, there is no good way, as Collections are not guaranteed to have fixed indices. Yes, you can iterate through them, which is how toArray (and other functions) work. But the iteration order isn't necessarily fixed, and if you're trying to index into a general Collection, you're probably doing something wrong. It would make more sense to index into a List.