why arrayLIst does not sort the elements i add

[ben josh]

why does the array list does not sort the elements by the order i add them
how can i make it sort them by the order the elements added ?

[Campbell Ritchie]

By array list I presume you mean java.lang.ArrayList? It usually maintains its elements in the order they were added, assuming you add them in order.

List myList;
. . .
myList = new ArrayList<Foo>();
. . .
for(int i = 1; i < count; i++)
{
   myList.add(new Foo(i));
}

will add however many Foos and maintain them in order whereas

myList.add(0, new Foo(i));

will get them all in reverse order. (As well as slower performance.)

They have not at this point been sorted. If you want to sort them, the elements must implement the Comparable interface, or you pass an object of the Comparator interface to the Collections.sort method.

[Campbell Ritchie]

To try to finish your query: sorting with Comparable sorts by the "natural order" and sorting with a Comparator sorts by whatever the Comparator thinks it is supposed to sort by. After sorting you will have lost the insertion order.