Question

Please explain the difference between the Vector.add() method and the Vector.addElement() method, along with a sample code snippet

Answer 1

add() comes from the List interface, which is part of the Java Collections Framework added in Java 1.2. Vector predates that and was retrofitted with it. The specific differences are:

1. addElement() is synchronized. add() isn’t. In the Java Collections Framework, if you want these methods to be synchronized wrap the collection in Collections.synchronizedList(); and

2. add() returns a boolean for success. addElement() has a void return type.

The synchronized difference technically isn’t part of the API. It’s an implementation detail.

Favour the use of the List methods. Like I said, if you want a synchronized List do:

List<String> list = Collections.synchronizedList(new ArrayList<String>());
list.add("hello");