Re: Does the clone() method of ArrayList<> make a copy of the objects in the ArrayList?

From:
Patricia Shanahan <pats@acm.org>
Newsgroups:
comp.lang.java.programmer
Date:
Fri, 03 Aug 2007 18:03:15 -0700
Message-ID:
<f90j8k$2a5o$1@ihnp4.ucsd.edu>
Knute Johnson wrote:

Arne Vajh?j wrote:

xz wrote:

anotherArrayList = (ArrayList<Something>) oneArrayList.clone();
anotherArrayList.get(0).makeSomeChange();

Will the change made in the second line make effect on
oneArrayList.get(0)?


clone is a shallow clone not a deep clone so yes.

Arne


Arne:

I know that it says in the docs that ArrayList.clone() is a shallow copy
and that the elements themselves are not copied. Why then does the
following code produce the following results (or have I gone completely
around the bend today?).

import java.util.*;

public class test9 {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        ArrayList<Integer> list1 = new ArrayList<Integer>();
        list1.add(10);
        list1.add(11);
        list1.add(12);
        ArrayList list2 = (ArrayList)list1.clone();
        list1.set(0,20);
        list1.add(30);
        for (int i=0; i<list1.size(); i++)
            System.out.print(list1.get(i)+" ");
        System.out.println();
        for (int i=0; i<list2.size(); i++)
            System.out.print(list2.get(i)+" ");
    }
}

C:\Documents and Settings\Knute Johnson>java test9
20 11 12 30
10 11 12


The difference between a deep and shallow clone is difficult to see if
you only add immutable objects, such as Integer:

import java.util.*;

public class ListCloneTest {
   public static void main(String[] args) {
     ArrayList<StringBuilder> list1 = new ArrayList<StringBuilder>();
     list1.add(new StringBuilder("aaa "));
     ArrayList list2 = (ArrayList) list1.clone();
     StringBuilder builder = list1.get(0);
     builder
         .append("Both lists point to the same StringBuilder");
     for (int i = 0; i < list1.size(); i++)
       System.out.print(list1.get(i) + " ");
     System.out.println();
     for (int i = 0; i < list2.size(); i++)
       System.out.print(list2.get(i) + " ");
   }
}

aaa Both lists point to the same StringBuilder
aaa Both lists point to the same StringBuilder

Patricia

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