Java - remove last known item from ArrayList

Question

OK, so here is my ArrayList:

private List clients = new ArrayList();

and here is what I am

Answer 1

This line means you instantiated a "List of ClientThread Objects".

private List<ClientThread> clients = new ArrayList<ClientThread>();

This line has two problems.

String hey = clients.get(clients.size());

1. This part of the line:

clients.get(clients.size());

ALWAYS throws IndexOutOfBoundsException because a collections size is always one bigger than its last elements index;

2. Compiler complains about incompatible types because you cant assign a ClientThread object to String object. Correct one should be like this.

ClientThread hey = clients.get(clients.size()-1);

Last but not least. If you know index of the object to remove just write

 clients.remove(23); //Lets say it is in 23. index

Don't write

   ClientThread hey = clients.get(23); 

   clients.remove(hey);

because you are forcing the list to search for the index that you already know. If you plan to do something with the removed object later. Write

   ClientThread hey = clients.remove(23); 

This way you can remove the object and get a reference to it at the same line.

Bonus: Never ever call your instance variable with name "hey". Find something meaningful.

And Here is your corrected and ready-to-run code:

public class ListExampleForDan {

    private List<ClientThread> clients = new ArrayList<ClientThread>();

    public static void main(String args[]) {

        clients.add(new ClientThread("First and Last Client Thread"));

        boolean success = removeLastElement(clients);

        if (success) {

            System.out.println("Last Element Removed.");

        } else {

            System.out.println("List Is Null/Empty, Operation Failed.");

        }

    }

    public static boolean removeLastElement(List clients) {

        if (clients == null || clients.isEmpty()) {

            return false;

        } else {

            clients.remove(clients.size() - 1);

            return true;

        }

    }
}

Enjoy!

Answer 2

The compiler complains that you are trying something of a list of ClientThread objects to a String. Either change the type of hey to ClientThread or clients to List<String>.

In addition: Valid indices for lists are from 0 to size()-1.

So you probably want to write

   String hey = clients.get(clients.size()-1);

Answer 3

It should be:

ClientThread hey = clients.get(clients.size() - 1);
clients.remove(hey);

Or you can do

clients.remove(clients.size() - 1);

The minus ones are because size() returns the number of elements, but the ArrayList's first element's index is 0 and not 1.