Java – HashMap Serializability

hashmapjavaserialization

HashMap implements the Serializable interface; so it can be serialized. I have looked at the implementation of HashMap and the Entry[] table is marked as transient. Since the Entry[] table is the one that stores the entire contents of the Map and if it cannot be serialized, how is the Map constructed back during de-serialization

Best Answer

If you look at the source you will see that it does not rely on the default serialization mechanism, but manually writes out all the entries (as an alternating stream of keys and values):

/**
  * Save the state of the <tt>HashMap</tt> instance to a stream (i.e.,
  * serialize it)
  *
  * @serialData The <i>capacity</i> of the HashMap (the length of the
  *             bucket array) is emitted (int), followed by the
  *             <i>size</i> (an int, the number of key-value
  *             mappings), followed by the key (Object) and value (Object)
  *             for each key-value mapping.  The key-value mappings are
  *             emitted in no particular order.
  */
      private void writeObject(java.io.ObjectOutputStream s)
             throws IOException
         {
             Iterator<Map.Entry<K,V>> i =
                 (size > 0) ? entrySet0().iterator() : null;

            // Write out the threshold, loadfactor, and any hidden stuff
            s.defaultWriteObject();

            // Write out number of buckets
            s.writeInt(table.length);

            // Write out size (number of Mappings)
            s.writeInt(size);

            // Write out keys and values (alternating)
            if (i != null) {
                while (i.hasNext()) {
                    Map.Entry<K,V> e = i.next();
                    s.writeObject(e.getKey());
                    s.writeObject(e.getValue());
                }
            }
        }

This is more compact than the array, which can contain many empty entries and link chains and overhead for Map$Entry wrappers.

Note that it still invokes defaultWriteObject for the "easy" fields. In order for that to work, it has to mark everything else as transient.

Related Solutions

Java – What are the differences between a HashMap and a Hashtable in Java

There are several differences between HashMap and Hashtable in Java:

Hashtable is synchronized, whereas HashMap is not. This makes HashMap better for non-threaded applications, as unsynchronized Objects typically perform better than synchronized ones.
Hashtable does not allow null keys or values. HashMap allows one null key and any number of null values.
One of HashMap's subclasses is LinkedHashMap, so in the event that you'd want predictable iteration order (which is insertion order by default), you could easily swap out the HashMap for a LinkedHashMap. This wouldn't be as easy if you were using Hashtable.

Since synchronization is not an issue for you, I'd recommend HashMap. If synchronization becomes an issue, you may also look at ConcurrentHashMap.

Java Hashmap: How to get key from value

If your data structure has many-to-one mapping between keys and values you should iterate over entries and pick all suitable keys:

public static <T, E> Set<T> getKeysByValue(Map<T, E> map, E value) {
    Set<T> keys = new HashSet<T>();
    for (Entry<T, E> entry : map.entrySet()) {
        if (Objects.equals(value, entry.getValue())) {
            keys.add(entry.getKey());
        }
    }
    return keys;
}

In case of one-to-one relationship, you can return the first matched key:

public static <T, E> T getKeyByValue(Map<T, E> map, E value) {
    for (Entry<T, E> entry : map.entrySet()) {
        if (Objects.equals(value, entry.getValue())) {
            return entry.getKey();
        }
    }
    return null;
}

In Java 8:

public static <T, E> Set<T> getKeysByValue(Map<T, E> map, E value) {
    return map.entrySet()
              .stream()
              .filter(entry -> Objects.equals(entry.getValue(), value))
              .map(Map.Entry::getKey)
              .collect(Collectors.toSet());
}

Also, for Guava users, BiMap may be useful. For example:

BiMap<Token, Character> tokenToChar = 
    ImmutableBiMap.of(Token.LEFT_BRACKET, '[', Token.LEFT_PARENTHESIS, '(');
Token token = tokenToChar.inverse().get('(');
Character c = tokenToChar.get(token);

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Java – What are the differences between a HashMap and a Hashtable in Java

Java Hashmap: How to get key from value

Related Topic