Question

I’m coding in Java, but most languages would do just fine.

Right now, I have an implementation like this:

I have an array that stores objects from a class. The array’s length is 10,000.

This is for a little project I working on. Essentially, over time, any place in the array can be unused or have an object in it. Objects can be created or destroyed at any moment.

What I was trying to figure out was the best way to store and recall them to minimize time for two steps:

1. Creating an object. Cycling through the array until you find an open slot can be slow when lots of instances are near the front.

2. Drawing an object. I have to cycle through the array constantly, and, based on the existence of an instance, retrieve and display information regarding it.

My current system uses a list of the Objects, as well as a list of Booleans. When creating an object, I just cycle through till the first empty place in the array, then fill it, and to draw, I just go over the whole thing.

Granted, it isn’t slow enough to make the project impossible, but I’d still like to know the most efficient method.

Answer 1

The best way is not to do this. Use one of the Java collections. If you aren’t going to be adding or removing things very often, maybe use a ArrayList. If you are, then use a LinkedList. And if you want to maintain a mapping to particular indices, you might consider e.g. a TreeMap. These are all iterable.