what is wrong with this Arraylist expression

[Adam Zedan]

import java.util.* ;
List<String> myList = new ArrayList<String>(); 

The above code generates an error .. why ??
i know that Collection is an interface and List is also an interface which inherits from Collection and Arraylist is an implimentation of List then why the error??
even the site http://www.javamex.com/tutorials/collections/using_1.shtml
is using it this way ... am i missing anything ??

[Matthew Brown]

Is that exactly how the code appears? Because an import statement needs to be at the beginning of the file, and the other line needs to be within a class.

Otherwise, it would be helpful if you gave the error message.

[Adam Zedan]

The code is

package foo;
import java.awt.List;
import java.util.* ;

public class Counter 
{
   private static int count;
   public static int getCount() 
   {
       count++;
       return count;
   }
   
   
     public static ArrayList<String> process(ArrayList<String> a_)  
        {  
    	   List<String> myList = new ArrayList<String>();
    	   myList.add("ElementA");
    	      
            return myList;  
              
        }  
}

I am using eclipse SE ..

[Piyush Joshi]

Adam Zedan wrote:The code is

package foo;
import java.awt.List;
import java.util.* ;

public class Counter 
{
   private static int count;
   public static int getCount() 
   {
       count++;
       return count;
   }
   
   
     public static ArrayList<String> process(ArrayList<String> a_)  
        {  
    	   List<String> myList = new ArrayList<String>();
    	   myList.add("ElementA");
    	      
            return myList;  
              
        }  
}

I am using eclipse SE ..

Hi, dont use java.awt.List this List is different from the List in Collections framework.
You have already imported complete java.util package which contains java.util.List and java.util.ArrayList

[Matthew Brown]

Piyush is right. It's trying to use the wrong List.

If you do need java.awt.List in that file, then you can get round it by using the fully qualified name:

java.util.List<String> myList = new ArrayList<String>();

[Adam Zedan]

Worked...thanks.. Removed the otehr import statement.. Thanks for clearing that up

[Campbell Ritchie]

Beware of imports in IDEs. If you write L-i-s-ctrl-space in Eclipse®, it will expand it to anything beginning with Lis, including java.awt.List and java.util.List. It displays the options in alphabetical order, so awt comes before util, and you can very easily pick the wrong List.