Using StringBuffer()

[greg norman]

What is the advantages and the DISADVANTAGES of using the StringBuffer? Can any expert explain?

[Bear Bibeault]

Though not an exhaustive explanation, one of the primary advantages is avoiding the creation of a whole slew of String objects as will happen when you concatenate a bunch of Strings using the '+' opreator.
You get a not insignificant performance boost as object creation is a relatively expensive operation, and moreover, StringBuffer is highly optimized for string concatenation.
StringBuffer is also mutable, whereas String is not, if that's an issue for you.
hth,
bear

[Gayathri Prasad]

Hi,
String Buffer is like a string but with mutable characters.
The Last paragraph in the java.lang.String javadoc says:
The Java language provides special support for the string concatentation operator
( + ), and for conversion of other objects to strings. String concatenation is
implemented through the StringBuffer class and its append method. String
conversions are implemented through the method toString, defined by Object and
inherited by all classes in Java. For additional information on string concatenation
and conversion, see Gosling, Joy, and Steele, The Java Language Specification.

String buffers are safe for use by multiple threads. The methods are synchronized where necessary so that all the operations on any particular instance behave as if they occur in some serial order that is consistent with the order of the method calls made by each of the individual threads involved.

Cheers,
Gaya3
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