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Java Collections Framework
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8. Alternative collections
  


ObjectSpace's JGL page 3 of 3


In addition to Doug Lea's collections library, the Generic Collection Library for Java (JGL) from ObjectSpace was an early collection library available for the Java platform. (If you are curious of how the library name maps to the acronym, it doesn't. The name of the first version of the library infringed on Sun's Java trademark. ObjectSpace changed the name, but the original acronym stuck.) Following the design patterns of the Standard Template Library (STL) for C++, the library provides algorithmic support, in addition to a data structure library. While the JGL is a good alternative collection framework, it didn't meet the design goals of the Collections Framework team: "The main design goal was to produce an API that was reasonably small, both in size and, more importantly, in conceptual weight." With that in mind, the team came up with the Collections Framework.

While not adopted by Sun Microsystems, the JGL has been included with many IDE tools. Due to its early availability, the JGL is available to well over 100,000 developers.

For a comparison of JGL versus the Collections Framework, see The battle of the container frameworks: which should you use? article in JavaWorld.


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