Creating and maintaining dynamic data structures requires dynamic memory allocationthe ability for a program to obtain more memory space at execution time to hold new nodes and to release space no longer needed. Remember that Java programs do not explicitly release dynamically allocated memory. Rather, Java performs automatic garbage collection of objects that are no longer referenced in a program.
The limit for dynamic memory allocation can be as large as the amount of available physical memory in the computer or the amount of available disk space in a virtual-memory system. Often, the limits are much smaller, because the computer's available memory must be shared among many applications.
The declaration and class-instance creation expression
Node nodeToAdd = new Node( 10 ); // 10 is nodeToAdd's data
allocates the memory to store a Node object and returns a reference to the object, which is assigned to nodeToAdd. If insufficient memory is available, the expression throws an OutOfMemoryError.
The following sections discuss lists, stacks, queues and trees that all use dynamic memory allocation and self-referential classes to create dynamic data structures.
Introduction to Computers, the Internet and the World Wide Web
Introduction to Java Applications
Introduction to Classes and Objects
Control Statements: Part I
Control Statements: Part 2
Methods: A Deeper Look
Arrays
Classes and Objects: A Deeper Look
Object-Oriented Programming: Inheritance
Object-Oriented Programming: Polymorphism
GUI Components: Part 1
Graphics and Java 2D™
Exception Handling
Files and Streams
Recursion
Searching and Sorting
Data Structures
Generics
Collections
Introduction to Java Applets
Multimedia: Applets and Applications
GUI Components: Part 2
Multithreading
Networking
Accessing Databases with JDBC
Servlets
JavaServer Pages (JSP)
Formatted Output
Strings, Characters and Regular Expressions
Appendix A. Operator Precedence Chart
Appendix B. ASCII Character Set
Appendix C. Keywords and Reserved Words
Appendix D. Primitive Types
Appendix E. (On CD) Number Systems
Appendix F. (On CD) Unicode®
Appendix G. Using the Java API Documentation
Appendix H. (On CD) Creating Documentation with javadoc
Appendix I. (On CD) Bit Manipulation
Appendix J. (On CD) ATM Case Study Code
Appendix K. (On CD) Labeled break and continue Statements
Appendix L. (On CD) UML 2: Additional Diagram Types
Appendix M. (On CD) Design Patterns
Appendix N. Using the Debugger
Inside Back Cover