Efficiency of Java “Double Brace Initialization”?

Question

In Hidden Features of Java the top answer mentions Double Brace Initialization, with a very enticing syntax:

Set flavors = new HashSet         


        

Answer 1

I second Nat's answer, except I would use a loop instead of creating and immediately tossing the implicit List from asList(elements):

static public Set<T> setOf(T ... elements) {
    Set set=new HashSet<T>(elements.size());
    for(T elm: elements) { set.add(elm); }
    return set;
    }

Answer 2

Loading many classes can add some milliseconds to the start. If the startup isn't so critical and you are look at the efficiency of classes after startup there is no difference.

package vanilla.java.perfeg.doublebracket;

import java.util.*;

/**
 * @author plawrey
 */
public class DoubleBracketMain {
    public static void main(String... args) {
        final List<String> list1 = new ArrayList<String>() {
            {
                add("Hello");
                add("World");
                add("!!!");
            }
        };
        List<String> list2 = new ArrayList<String>(list1);
        Set<String> set1 = new LinkedHashSet<String>() {
            {
                addAll(list1);
            }
        };
        Set<String> set2 = new LinkedHashSet<String>();
        set2.addAll(list1);
        Map<Integer, String> map1 = new LinkedHashMap<Integer, String>() {
            {
                put(1, "one");
                put(2, "two");
                put(3, "three");
            }
        };
        Map<Integer, String> map2 = new LinkedHashMap<Integer, String>();
        map2.putAll(map1);

        for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
            long dbTimes = timeComparison(list1, list1)
                    + timeComparison(set1, set1)
                    + timeComparison(map1.keySet(), map1.keySet())
                    + timeComparison(map1.values(), map1.values());
            long times = timeComparison(list2, list2)
                    + timeComparison(set2, set2)
                    + timeComparison(map2.keySet(), map2.keySet())
                    + timeComparison(map2.values(), map2.values());
            if (i > 0)
                System.out.printf("double braced collections took %,d ns and plain collections took %,d ns%n", dbTimes, times);
        }
    }

    public static long timeComparison(Collection a, Collection b) {
        long start = System.nanoTime();
        int runs = 10000000;
        for (int i = 0; i < runs; i++)
            compareCollections(a, b);
        long rate = (System.nanoTime() - start) / runs;
        return rate;
    }

    public static void compareCollections(Collection a, Collection b) {
        if (!a.equals(b) && a.hashCode() != b.hashCode() && !a.toString().equals(b.toString()))
            throw new AssertionError();
    }
}

prints

double braced collections took 36 ns and plain collections took 36 ns
double braced collections took 34 ns and plain collections took 36 ns
double braced collections took 36 ns and plain collections took 36 ns
double braced collections took 36 ns and plain collections took 36 ns
double braced collections took 36 ns and plain collections took 36 ns
double braced collections took 36 ns and plain collections took 36 ns
double braced collections took 36 ns and plain collections took 36 ns
double braced collections took 36 ns and plain collections took 36 ns
double braced collections took 36 ns and plain collections took 36 ns

Answer 3

While this syntax can be convenient, it also adds a lot of this$0 references as these become nested and it can be difficult to step debug into the initializers unless breakpoints are set on each one. For that reason, I only recommend using this for banal setters, especially set to constants, and places where anonymous subclasses don't matter (like no serialization involved).