File Handling - An Introduction to Network Programming with Java - page 124

Fig. 4.7 Server providing ' Vector ised' data to client in preceding screenshot

4.10 Vectors Versus ArrayLists

As an alternative to using an ArrayList to 'wrap up' our class objects, we could
choose to use a Vector . This class existed in Java before the Collection Framework
came into existence and was 'retro-fi tted' to take its place alongside the other
Collection classes. The only signifi cant difference is that, instead of using method
get to retrieve an object from a Vector , we need to use method elementAt .

Example

Vector<String> stringVector = new Vector<>();
stringVector.add("Example");
//Next step retrieves this element.
String word = stringVector.elementAt(0);
Another slight difference is that, as well as having method add to add objects to
a Vector , there is also method addElement , principally to cater for older code.
The following question naturally arises: 'Which is it better to use—Vectors or
ArrayLists?'. The answer is… it depends! The ArrayList is faster, but is not thread-
safe, whereas the Vector is thread-safe. Consequently, if thread-safety is important
to your program, you should use a Vector . If, on the other hand, thread-safety is not
a factor, then you should use an ArrayList .