Vector : Java Glossary

by Roedy Green ©1996-2008 Canadian Mind Products
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Vector

An array that automatically grows. Now replaced by ArrayList. You would only use Vector only for compatibility with Java 1.1.

Vector.add( elt ) automatically tacks on the end.

Thread Safety	Vectors In Mathematics
Old and New method names	Learning More
ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException	Links
Vectors In Graphics

Thread Safety

To get the thread safety of Vector in ArrayList wrap it like this:

// making an ArrayList threadsafe
ArrayList a = new ArrayList( 100 );
Collection threadSafeList = Collections.synchronizedCollection( a );

Old and New method names

ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException

Vector will often give you ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException. There are many ways to generate one.

Using a negative index.
Indexing past the current end of the Vector with elementAt, get, setElementAt or set. It will only automatically grow with addElement or add, and it will grow only one element at a time. It won’t even let you use setElementAt or set one element past the end.
Doing a lastIndexOf starting out past the end.

Vectors In Graphics

In the context of graphic image processing there are two basic types: raster graphics and vector graphics. Raster graphics store the colour of a dot called a pixel for every tiny cell of the image. Vector graphics store the begin and end points of lines used to construct an image at any scale. Vector graphics also typically handle Bezier curves, which are curves that go through sample points, with the direction and curvature adjusted at each point to smooth the curve.

Vectors In Mathematics

In mathematics, a vector is a something with both a quanity and a direction, e.g. velocity or a force. A vector is also a tuple of numbers. Three numbers can be used to represent a direction in 3D. four numbers can represent a point in space-time.

Learning More

Sun’s Javadoc on the Vector class : available:

on the web at java.Sun.com
in the JDK 1.6.0_06 or in JDK 1.5.0_15 on your local J: drive.

ArrayList
Enumeration
Gimp
Iterator
Marco Scmmidt’s list of Vector Image processing libraries
pixel
SVG

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