shallow copying an ArrayList in Java 5

[Gary Newell]

I need some help with Java 5.

The code snippet below worked fine in Java 1.4.2. My code makes an array
list of some predefined strings. The strings do not change, but the strings
can belong (sometime concurrently) to various groups. In Java 1.4.2, I
created the new group by copying an existing group and then modifying the
group's contents.

In Java 5, how do I "shallow copy" an ArrayList?

code:
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import java.util.*;

public class cloneArrayList {

public static void main(String args[]) {

ArrayList<String> original = new ArrayList<String>();
ArrayList<String> shallowCopy;

// initialize the array list
original.add( "StrA" );
original.add( "StrB" );
original.add( "StrC" );

// shallow copy the array list
shallowCopy = (ArrayList) original.clone();

for( int j=0; j<original.size(); j++ ) {
System.out.println( "j=" + j + ", str=" + shallowCopy.get( j ) );
}
}
}
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Output:
C:\temp>java cloneArrayList
j=0, str=StrA
j=1, str=StrB
j=2, str=StrC
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Compiler warning:
C:\temp>javac cloneArrayList.java
Note: cloneArrayList.java uses unchecked or unsafe operations.
Note: Recompile with -Xlint:unchecked for details.
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C:\temp>javac -Xlint:unchecked cloneArrayList.java
cloneArrayList.java:16: warning: [unchecked] unchecked conversion
found : java.util.ArrayList
required: java.util.ArrayList<java.lang.String>
shallowCopy = (ArrayList) original.clone();
^
1 warning

Without looping through each element, how do I shallow copy the original
ArrayList?

Thanks!

Gary

 

[Tilman Bohn]

Without looping through each element, how do I shallow copy the original
ArrayList?

shallowCopy = new ArrayList<String>( original );

Cheers, Tilman

 

[Tilman Bohn]

PS: Also note that you're only getting a compiler warning, not
an error. The code still compiles and works as intended.

Cheers, Tilman