Can we use index like array index to access List?

Question

I am wondering if we can use index to access List

For example:

List list; 

list[5]     //blah....

Answer 1

Since [] is an operator and java does not support operator overloading you can't use it with List. Instead you have to use the set(int index, T value) and get(int index) methods, which may be verbose but provide exact the same functionality.

Answer 2

List.get(int) allows you to access elements using the index.

Answer 3

No, you're restricted to List.get (i).

The brackets [] are defined on syntax level, not as method-name, so you can't override them. They are used just for arrays exclusively.

If you like to migrate to Scala, a more modern language for the JVM, you'll find an unified access to arrays and lists, but both with () parentheses.

Answer 4

No, you can't do this in Java.

Answer 5

There are plenty of good answers here, but I just want to point out that list.get(i) is the same as list[i] only if list is implemented with an array (i.e ArrayList). If it is a LinkedList you are not really indexing with get, but rather iterating.

So if you use get() with the interface type List, especially in a loop, you should check how it's implemented, as get() with ArrayList is O(1) whereas get() with LinkedList is O(n) (much slower).

Answer 6

You can access List elements using their index through the use of the get method:

get

public Object get(int index)

Returns the element at the specified position in this list.

Parameters: index - index of element to return.

Returns: the element at the specified position in this list.

Throws: IndexOutOfBoundsException - if the index is out of range (index < 0 || index >= size()).

Keep in mind that the index in Lists is 0 based.