generic code

[mac]

I have these 2 methods working independently, basically doing the exact same thing to different data structures. Can you suggest a way to create a generic method instead of using 2?

public String[] uniqueArguments(String[] arguments) {
  Set<String> noDups = new HashSet<String>(Arrays.asList(arguments));
	return noDups.toArray(new String[noDups.size()]);
}

public static ArrayList<String> uniqueArguments(List<String> u) {
  HashSet<String> mySet = new HashSet<String>(u);
  return new ArrayList<String>(mySet);
}

[iluxa]

err... nope, cant do that

[Eranga]

Looking at the way you workout it's not possible. One reason I've seen is that the difference between those interfaces.

[r035198x]

Arrays don't play well generics.
The best you can do is

        public static <T> List<T> uniqueList(Collection<T> collection) {
		Set<T> mySet = new HashSet<T>(collection);
		return new ArrayList<T>(mySet);
	}

But it's not as bad as you think. If you have an array you can still use the method after calling the Arrays.asList method on it e.g

String[] stringsArray = new String[] { "f", "g", "f" };
System.out.println(uniqueList(Arrays.asList(stringsArray)));

[Eranga]

But it's not as bad as you think. If you have an array you can still use the method after calling the Arrays.asList method on it

Interesting point.