Using Pairs or 2-tuples in Java

Question

My Hashtable in Java would benefit from a value having a tuple structure. What data structure can I use in Java to do that?

Hashtable<Long, Tuple<Set<Long>,Set<Long>>> table = ...

Answer 1

I don't think there is a general purpose tuple class in Java but a custom one might be as easy as the following:

public class Tuple<X, Y> { 
  public final X x; 
  public final Y y; 
  public Tuple(X x, Y y) { 
    this.x = x; 
    this.y = y; 
  } 
} 

Of course, there are some important implications of how to design this class further regarding equality, immutability, etc., especially if you plan to use instances as keys for hashing.

Answer 2

javatuples is a dedicated project for tuples in Java.

Unit<A> (1 element)
Pair<A,B> (2 elements)
Triplet<A,B,C> (3 elements)

Answer 3

Apache Commons provided some common java utilities including a Pair. It implements Map.Entry, Comparable and Serializable.

Answer 4

If you are looking for a built-in Java two-element tuple, try AbstractMap.SimpleEntry.

Answer 5

As an extension to @maerics nice answer, I've added a few useful methods:

public class Tuple<X, Y> { 
    public final X x; 
    public final Y y; 
    public Tuple(X x, Y y) { 
        this.x = x; 
        this.y = y; 
    }

    @Override
    public String toString() {
        return "(" + x + "," + y + ")";
    }

    @Override
    public boolean equals(Object other) {
        if (other == this) {
            return true;
        }

        if (!(other instanceof Tuple)){
            return false;
        }

        Tuple<X,Y> other_ = (Tuple<X,Y>) other;

        // this may cause NPE if nulls are valid values for x or y. The logic may be improved to handle nulls properly, if needed.
        return other_.x.equals(this.x) && other_.y.equals(this.y);
    }

    @Override
    public int hashCode() {
        final int prime = 31;
        int result = 1;
        result = prime * result + ((x == null) ? 0 : x.hashCode());
        result = prime * result + ((y == null) ? 0 : y.hashCode());
        return result;
    }
}

Answer 6

Another 2 cents : Starting with Java 7, there is now a class for this in standard Lib : javafx.util.Pair.

And Yes, It is standard Java, now that JavaFx is included in the JDK :)

Answer 7

Here's this exact same question elsewhere, that includes a more robust equals, hash that maerics alludes to:

http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.java.help/browse_thread/thread/f8b63fc645c1b487/1d94be050cfc249b

That discussion goes on to mirror the maerics vs ColinD approaches of "should I re-use a class Tuple with an unspecific name, or make a new class with specific names each time I encounter this situation". Years ago I was in the latter camp; I've evolved into supporting the former.

Answer 8

With lombok it's easy to declare a Pair class:

@Data(staticConstructor = "of")
public class Pair<A, B> {
    private final A left;
    private final B right;
}

This will generates getters, static constructor named "of", equals(), hashcode() and toString().

see @Data documentation for more information

Answer 9

Android Tuple Utils

This object provides a sensible implementation of equals(), returning true if equals() is true on each of the contained objects.

Answer 10

Though the article is pretty old now, and though I understand that I'm not really very helpful, I think the proposal described in Adding tuples to Java: a study in lightweight data structures, would have been nice in mainstream Java.

You can do things like:

int a;
char b;
float c;
[a,b,c] = [3,'a',2.33];

or

[int,int,char] x = [1,2,'a'];

or

public [int,boolean] Find(int i)
{
  int idx = FindInArray(A,i);
  return [idx,idx>=0];
}

[idx, found] = Find(7);

Here tuples are:

• Defined as primitive types - no templates/generics
• Stack-allocated if declared locally
• Assigned using pattern-matching

This approach increases

• Performance
• Readability
• Expressiveness

Answer 11

Create a class that describes the concept you're actually modeling and use that. It can just store two Set<Long> and provide accessors for them, but it should be named to indicate what exactly each of those sets is and why they're grouped together.

Answer 12

To supplement @maerics's answer, here is the Comparable tuple:

import java.util.*;

/**
 * A tuple of two classes that implement Comparable
 */
public class ComparableTuple<X extends Comparable<? super X>, Y extends Comparable<? super Y>>
       extends Tuple<X, Y>
       implements Comparable<ComparableTuple<X, Y>>
{
  public ComparableTuple(X x, Y y) {
    super(x, y);
  }

  /**
   * Implements lexicographic order
   */
  public int compareTo(ComparableTuple<X, Y> other) {
    int d = this.x.compareTo(other.x);
    if (d == 0)
      return this.y.compareTo(other.y);
    return d;
  }
}

Answer 13

You can use Google Guava Table

Answer 14

I will start from a general point of view about tuples in Java and finish with an implication for your concrete problem.

1) The way tuples are used in non-generic languages is avoided in Java because they are not type-safe (e.g. in Python: tuple = (4, 7.9, 'python')). If you still want to use something like a general purpose tuple (which is not recommended), you should use Object[] or List<Object> and cast the elements after a check with instanceof to assure type-safety.

Usually, tuples in a certain setting are always used the same way with containing the same structure. In Java, you have to define this structure explicitly in a class to provide well-defined, type-safe values and methods. This seems annoying and unnecessairy at first but prevents errors already at compile-time.

2) If you need a tuple containing the same (super-)classes Foo, use Foo[], List<Foo>, or List<? extends Foo> (or the lists's immutable counterparts). Since a tuple is not of a defined length, this solution is equivalent.

3) In your case, you seem to need a Pair (i.e. a tuple of well-defined length 2). This renders maerics's answer or one of the supplementary answers the most efficient since you can reuse the code in the future.