Thread: Difference between an ArrayList and a LinkedList in Java?

Can someone help me explain the differences between an ArrayList and a LinkedList in Java Programming and their uses?

Hi,

I will try answering your query! 🙂

Arraylist is a class which is a part of the Collections Frameworks in java. It implements the List interface hence all the methods of the List class. The java.util package is required for using this class.

Syntax

ArrayList<data_type> name = new ArrayList<data_type>();

LinkedList are linear data structures similar to arrayLists. The elements are linked using pointers and addresses, Each element is known as a node.

Let's talk about the differences between ArrayList and LinkedList


An ArrayList class uses a dynamic array to store the elements in it, Whereas A LinkedList class uses a doubly linked list to store the elements in it.
Manipulating ArrayList takes more time due to the internal implementation, Whereas Manipulating LinkedList takes less time compared to ArrayList.
An ArrayList class can act as a list only because it implements List only, Whereas LinkedList class can act as a list and queue both.
ArrayList is better for storing and accessing data, Whereas LinkedList is better for manipulating data.

You may refer the following resources for detailed Information:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_data_structures
https://www.scaler.com/topics/arraylist-vs-linkedlist/

Array List and Linked List both are the classes implementing list interface.

1.Array List and List list both follow insertion order and both allows duplicates and null values.
2.Array list internally use arrays to store the data and linked list stores the data in the form of nodes.(each node contains data and address of the next node).
3.initial size of array list is 10 dynamically it increases up to 50 percent, linked list internally uses double linked list to store the data.
4. For adding and deletion we can go for linked list because in linked list to add and delete data it will not shift elements just it will change the address of the node, but in array list the elements shifting will be done it is bit slow when compared to linked list.
5. for searching we can go for array list because in linked to search a particular data it will search from head to end up to gets the particular data but in array list it will fetch the data by using get method.
6. for adding and deletion of data we can use linked list and for searching the data we can go for array list.