Question

List<String> flowers = new ArrayList<String>();

My for loop currently looks like this…

for (int i = 0; i < flowers.size(); i++) {
...
}

OR should I change this to look like the code given below

int size = flowers.size();
for (int i = 0; i < size; i++) {
...
}

Which is more performant (assuming I have a large array of flowers), I am guessing it should be the latter.

Answer 1

It is better to use for-each loop [more readable]

for (Flower flower :flowers){
    //...
}

---

I have dumped instructions using javap for the following code:

public void forLoop1() {
    List<String> lst = new ArrayList<String>();
    for (int i = 0; i < lst.size(); i++) {
        System.out.println("hi");
    }
}

public void forLoop2() {
    List<String> lst = new ArrayList<String>();
    int size = lst.size();
    for (int i = 0; i < size; i++) {
        System.out.println("hi");
    }
}

---

public void forLoop1();
  Code:
   0:   new     #2; //class java/util/ArrayList
   3:   dup
   4:   invokespecial   #3; //Method java/util/ArrayList."<init>":()V
   7:   astore_1
   8:   iconst_0
   9:   istore_2
   10:  iload_2
   11:  aload_1
   12:  invokeinterface #4,  1; //InterfaceMethod java/util/List.size:()I
   17:  if_icmpge       34
   20:  getstatic       #5; //Field java/lang/System.out:Ljava/io/PrintStream;
   23:  ldc     #6; //String hi
   25:  invokevirtual   #7; //Method java/io/PrintStream.println:(Ljava/lang/Str
ing;)V
   28:  iinc    2, 1
   31:  goto    10
   34:  return

public void forLoop2();
  Code:
   0:   new     #2; //class java/util/ArrayList
   3:   dup
   4:   invokespecial   #3; //Method java/util/ArrayList."<init>":()V
   7:   astore_1
   8:   aload_1
   9:   invokeinterface #4,  1; //InterfaceMethod java/util/List.size:()I
   14:  istore_2
   15:  iconst_0
   16:  istore_3
   17:  iload_3
   18:  iload_2
   19:  if_icmpge       36
   22:  getstatic       #5; //Field java/lang/System.out:Ljava/io/PrintStream;
   25:  ldc     #6; //String hi
   27:  invokevirtual   #7; //Method java/io/PrintStream.println:(Ljava/lang/Str
ing;)V
   30:  iinc    3, 1
   33:  goto    17
   36:  return

It doesn’t optimize for me.

java version “1.6.0_22” Java(TM) SE
Runtime Environment (build
1.6.0_22-b04) Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (build 17.1-b03, mixed mode,
sharing)

So if you need to choose from mentioned two, go for second, but I personally would go for for-each.

---

for-each Performance

From Item 46 in Effective Java by Joshua Bloch :

The for-each loop, introduced in
release 1.5, gets rid of the clutter
and the opportunity for error by
hiding the iterator or index variable
completely. The resulting idiom
applies equally to collections and
arrays:

// The preferred idiom for iterating over collections and arrays
for (Element e : elements) {
    doSomething(e);
}

When you see the colon (:), read it as
“in.” Thus, the loop above reads as
“for each element e in elements.” Note
that there is no performance penalty
for using the for-each loop, even for
arrays. In fact, it may offer a slight
performance advantage over an ordinary
for loop in some circumstances, as it
computes the limit of the array index
only once. While you can do this by
hand (Item 45), programmers don’t
always do so.

---

See Also

• Is-there-a-performance-difference-between-a-for-loop-and-a-for-each-loop