Question

So i have the following code which is an array of python dictionaries

userInfo.append({"userType":"blah",
         "userFN":"blah", 
         "userLN": "blah", 
         "userEmail":"[e-mail]"})

I want to convert it to Java, right now the way I understand is best is to make a Map, and then create collections for it. Now I did the syntax but I am not sure if that is the best way

Map <String,String> userMap = new HashMap<String,String>();
HashSet<Map<String, String>> userMaps = new HashSet<Map<String,String>>();
...
userMap.put ("userType", "blah");
userMap.put("userFN", "blah");
userMap.put("userLN", "blah");
userMap.put("userEmail", "blah");
userMaps.add(userMap);

Is this the best way to do it?
Note: I haven’t ran this code because I am converting a decent chunk of code and want to convert as much as I can before debugging.

Answer 1

Firstly, if you’re going to use Java, you ought to take advantage of the fact that it’s statically typed. Unless your user object is going to full of arbitrary properties, it’s a good idea to make a class for it.

public class User {
  private String firstName;
  private String lastName;
  // etc.

  public User(String firstName, String lastName /*etc.*/){
    this.firstName = firstName;
    this.lastName = lastName;
    // etc.
  }
}

Also, your userInfo is probably an array, so use an ArrayList instead of a Set.

ArrayList<User> userInfo = new ArrayList<User>();
userInfo.add( new User("Some", "Guy" /*...*/) );