> ### Chapter 12

> ## Generic Programming and Collection Classes

> HOW TO AVOID REINVENTING the wheel? Many data structures and algorithms, such as those from the previous chapter, have been studied, programmed, and re-programmed by generations of computer science students. This is a valuable learning experience. Unfortunately, they have also been programmed and re-programmed by generations of working computer professionals, taking up time that could be devoted to new, more creative work. A programmer who needs a list or a binary tree shouldn't have to re-code these data structures from scratch. They are well-understood and have been programmed thousands of times before. The problem is how to make pre-written, robust data structures available to programmers. In this chapter, we'll look at Java's attempt to address this problem.

> ### Contents of Chapter 12:

> - Section 1: Generic Programming
> - Section 2: List and Set Classes
> - Section 3: Map Classes
> - Section 4: Programming with Collection Classes
> - Programming Exercises
> - Quiz on this Chapter

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