Convert Java Array to Iterable

Question

I have an Array of primitives, for example for int, int[] foo. It might be a small sized one, or not.

int foo[] = {1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,0};

What is the best way to create an Iterable<Integer> from it?

Iterable<Integer> fooBar = convert(foo);

Notes:

Please do not answer using loops (unless you can give a good explanation on how the compiler do something smart about them?)

Also note that

int a[] = {1,2,3};
List<Integer> l = Arrays.asList(a);

Will not even compile

Type mismatch: cannot convert from List<int[]> to List<Integer>

Also check Why is an array not assignable to Iterable? before answering.

Also, if you use some library (e.g., Guava), please explain why this is the Best. ( Because its from Google is not a complete answer :P )

Last, since there seems to be a homework about that, avoid posting homeworkish code.

Answer 1

Integer foo[] = { 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0 };

List<Integer> list = Arrays.asList(foo);
// or
Iterable<Integer> iterable = Arrays.asList(foo);

Though you need to use an Integer array (not an int array) for this to work.

For primitives, you can use guava:

Iterable<Integer> fooBar = Ints.asList(foo);

<dependency>
    <groupId>com.google.guava</groupId>
    <artifactId>guava</artifactId>
    <version>15.0</version>
    <type>jar</type>
</dependency>

For Java8 with lambdas: (Inspired by Jin Kwon's answer)

final int[] arr = { 1, 2, 3 };
final Iterable<Integer> i1 = () -> Arrays.stream(arr).iterator();
final Iterable<Integer> i2 = () -> IntStream.of(arr).iterator();
final Iterable<Integer> i3 = () -> IntStream.of(arr).boxed().iterator();

Answer 2

just my 2 cents:

final int a[] = {1,2,3};

java.lang.Iterable<Integer> aIterable=new Iterable<Integer>() {

    public Iterator<Integer> iterator() {
       return new Iterator<Integer>() {
            private int pos=0;

            public boolean hasNext() {
               return a.length>pos;
            }

            public Integer next() {
               return a[pos++];
            }

            public void remove() {
                throw new UnsupportedOperationException("Cannot remove an element of an array.");
            }
        };
    }
};

Answer 3

With Java 8, you can do this.

final int[] arr = {1, 2, 3};
final PrimitiveIterator.OfInt i1 = Arrays.stream(arr).iterator();
final PrimitiveIterator.OfInt i2 = IntStream.of(arr).iterator();
final Iterator<Integer> i3 = IntStream.of(arr).boxed().iterator();

Answer 4

Guava provides the adapter you want as Int.asList(). There is an equivalent for each primitive type in the associated class, e.g., Booleans for boolean, etc.

int foo[] = {1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,0};
Iterable<Integer> fooBar = Ints.asList(foo);
for(Integer i : fooBar) {
    System.out.println(i);
}

The suggestions above to use Arrays.asList won't work, even if they compile because you get an Iterator<int[]> rather than Iterator<Integer>. What happens is that rather than creating a list backed by your array, you created a 1-element list of arrays, containing your array.

Answer 5

In Java 8 or later, Iterable is a functional interface returns Iterator. So you can do this.

static Iterable<Integer> convert(int[] array) {
    return () -> Arrays.stream(array).iterator();
}

and

int[] array = {1, 2, 3};
Iterable<Integer> iterable = convert(array);
for (int i : iterable)
    System.out.println(i);

output:

1
2
3

Answer 6

I had the same problem and solved it like this:

final YourType[] yourArray = ...;
return new Iterable<YourType>() {
  public Iterator<YourType> iterator() {
     return Iterators.forArray(yourArray);   // Iterators is a Google guava utility
  }
}

The iterator itself is a lazy UnmodifiableIterator but that's exactly what I needed.

Answer 7

First of all, I can only agree that Arrays.asList(T...) is clearly the best solution for Wrapper types or arrays with non-primtive datatypes. This method calls a constructor of a simple private static AbstractList implementation in the Arrays class which basically saves the given array reference as field and simulates a list by overriding the needed methods.

If you can choose between a primtive type or a Wrapper type for your array, I would use the Wrapper type for such situations but of course, it's not always useful or required. There would be only two possibilities you can do:

1) You can create a class with a static method for each primitive datatype array (boolean, byte, short, int, long, char, float, double returning an Iterable<WrapperType>. These methods would use anonymous classes of Iterator (besides Iterable) which are allowed to contain the reference of the comprising method's argument (for example an int[]) as field in order to implement the methods.

-> This approach is performant and saves you memory (except for the memory of the newly created methods, even though, using Arrays.asList() would take memory in the same way)

2) Since arrays don't have methods (as to be read on the side you linked) they can't provide an Iterator instance either. If you really are too lazy to write new classes, you must use an instance of an already existing class that implements Iterable because there is no other way around than instantiating Iterable or a subtype.
The ONLY way to create an existing Collection derivative implementing Iterable is to use a loop (except you use anonymous classes as described above) or you instantiate an Iterable implementing class whose constructor allows a primtive type array (because Object[] doesn't allow arrays with primitive type elements) but as far as I know, the Java API doesn't feature a class like that.

The reason for the loop can be explained easily:
for each Collection you need Objects and primtive datatypes aren't objects. Objects are much bigger than primitive types so that they require additional data which must be generated for each element of the primitive type array. That means if two ways of three (using Arrays.asList(T...) or using an existing Collection) require an aggregate of objects, you need to create for each primitive value of your int[] array the wrapper object. The third way would use the array as is and use it in an anonymous class as I think it's preferable due to fast performance.

There is also a third strategy using an Object as argument for the method where you want to use the array or Iterable and it would require type checks to figure out which type the argument has, however I wouldn't recommend it at all as you usually need to consider that the Object hasn't always the required type and that you need seperate code for certain cases.

In conclusion, it's the fault of Java's problematic Generic Type system which doesn't allow to use primitive types as generic type which would save a lot of code by using simply Arrays.asList(T...). So you need to program for each primitive type array, you need, such a method (which basically makes no difference to the memory used by a C++ program which would create for each used type argument a seperate method.

Answer 8

You can use IterableOf from Cactoos:

Iterable<String> names = new IterableOf<>(
  "Scott Fitzgerald", "Fyodor Dostoyevsky"
);

Then, you can turn it into a list using ListOf:

List<String> names = new ListOf<>(
  new IterableOf<>(
    "Scott Fitzgerald", "Fyodor Dostoyevsky"
  )
);

Or simply this:

List<String> names = new ListOf<>(
  "Scott Fitzgerald", "Fyodor Dostoyevsky"
);

Answer 9

While a similar answer has already been sort of posted, I think the reason to use the new PrimitiveIterator.OfInt was not clear. A good solution is to use Java 8 PrimitiveIterator since it's specialized for primitive int types (and avoids the extra boxing/unboxing penalty):

    int[] arr = {1,2,3};
    // If you use Iterator<Integer> here as type then you can't get the actual benefit of being able to use nextInt() later
    PrimitiveIterator.OfInt iterator = Arrays.stream(arr).iterator();
    while (iterator.hasNext()) {
        System.out.println(iterator.nextInt());
        // Use nextInt() instead of next() here to avoid extra boxing penalty
    }

Ref: https://doc.bccnsoft.com/docs/jdk8u12-docs/api/java/util/PrimitiveIterator.OfInt.html

Answer 10

In java8 IntSteam stream can be boxed to stream of Integers.

public static Iterable<Integer> toIterable(int[] ints) {
    return IntStream.of(ints).boxed().collect(Collectors.toList());
}

I think performance matters based on the size of the array.