How to implement my own LinkedList<LinkedList> data structure in Java?

Question

I am working on something which would make it easier if several of the objects I use would be written by me (instead of using Java's libraries). I am currently stuck at implementing an ArrayList<ArrayList> object (which we can call MyHashTable) using my LinkedList class and my Node class. Here is my correctly implemented LinkedList class so far:

public class LinkedList{
    Node start;
    int length;

    public LinkedList(){
        start = new Node();
        length= 0;
    }

    public void addNode(Node node){
        Node s= start;
        while (s.next != null){
            s= s.next;
        }
        s.next= node;
        length++;
    }

    public int getLength(){
        return length;
    }

    public boolean findNode(Node node){
        Node s= start;
        while(s.next != null){
            if (s == node){
                return true;
            }
            s.next= node;
        }
        return false;
    }

}

So I am having trouble modifying this class to accept Java generics (so I could make a Linked List of Linked Lists instead of simply Linked List of Nodes). Let me know if I should provide how my Node class looks.

Answer 1

A generic LinkedList just substitutes the type of the value. You don't show your Node class so I don't understand how you're using it. Here is a generic linked list:

class LinkedList<E> {
    static class Node<E> {
        E value;
        Node<E> next;

        Node(E value) {
            this.value = value;
        }
    }

    Node<E> head = new Node<E>(null);
    Node<E> tail = head;
    int size;

    void add(E value) {
        tail = tail.next = new Node<E>(value);
        size++;
    }

    E get(int index) {
        if(index < 0 || size <= index)
            throw new OutOfBoundsException(index);

        Node<E> node = head.next;
        while(index > 0) {
            node = node.next;
            index--;
        }

        return node.value;
    }
}

But I'm not sure what you mean by make that in to an ArrayList. An ArrayList is completely different, it is an array that resizes itself automatically:

class ArrayList<E> {
    Object[] array = new Object[10];
    int size;

    void add(E value) {
        if(size >= array.length) {
            array = Arrays.copyOf(array, (int)(size * 3L / 2L));
        }

        array[size++] = value;
    }

    E get(int index) {
        return (E)array[index];
    }
}

And while I suppose you could hack together a hash table by using a multidimensional array, I don't recommend it. You cannot just go and instantiate an array with 2^32 elements so that means you have to manage intersections. I don't see how an ArrayList<ArrayList> could ever be a working hash table. Here is a simple hash table implementation similar to the Java one. The table is an array of linked lists.

class HashTable<K, V> {
    static class Entry<K, V> {
        K key;
        V value;

        Entry<K, V> next;

        Entry(K key, V value) {
           this.key = key;
           this.value = value;
        }
    }

    Entry[] table = new Entry[8];
    int size;

    void put(K key, V value) {
        Entry<K, V> entry = table[indexFor(key)];
        while(entry != null) {
            if(entry.key.equals(key)) {
                entry.value = value;
                return;
            }

            entry = entry.next;
        }

        resizeIfNeeded();

        addEntry(new Entry<K, V>(key, value));
        size++;
    }

    void addEntry(Entry<K, V> newEntry) {
        int index = indexFor(newEntry.key);
        Entry<K, V> entry = table[index];

        if(entry == null) {
            table[index] = newEntry;

        } else {
            while(entry.next != null)
                entry = entry.next;

            entry.next = newEntry;
        }
    }

    void resizeIfNeeded() {
        if(size < table.length)
            return;

        Entry[] old = table;
        table = new Entry[old.length << 1];

        for(Entry<K, V> entry : old) {
            while(entry != null) {
                addEntry(entry);
                Entry<K, V> next = entry.next;
                entry.next = null;
                entry = next;
            }
        }
    }

    V get(K key) {
        Entry<K, V> entry = table[indexFor(key)];
        while(entry != null) {
            if(entry.key.equals(key))
                return entry.value;

            entry = entry.next;
        }

        return null;
    }

    int indexFor(K key) {
        return key.hashCode() & table.length - 1;
    }
}

As I mentioned in my comment, this sounds like an XY problem. I don't see how this is easier than using the Java data structures. Perhaps you have a different question to ask.