Java ArrayList vs LinkedList

September 11, 2023

Consider yourself as a hiring manager and ask me questions on java, and I’m going to provide an answer. Give me feedback on my answer: What part of my answer stood out? What pieces were missing? What did I do well, and what may I have done differently, in light of best practices for interviews?

Certainly! Let's get started with some Java-related questions. Please provide your answer, and I'll provide feedback based on your response.

Question: Can you explain the difference between ArrayList and LinkedList in Java, and in what situations would you choose one over the other?

Please provide your answer, and I'll give you feedback on it.

We should choose LinkedList when operations like data addition or deletion occur more frequently than reading the data. Conversely, use ArrayList when data reading scenarios are more common than adding or removing data. This is because ArrayList is better equipped for frequent data retrievals.

Thank you for your response. Here's some feedback:

What stood out:

You provided a clear distinction between ArrayList and LinkedList by highlighting their performance characteristics based on the type of operations (addition/removal vs. reading).
Your response demonstrates an understanding of when to choose one data structure over the other based on the specific use case.

What's missing:

While your explanation is generally accurate, you could have gone into a bit more detail. For example, you could have mentioned that ArrayList is implemented as a dynamic array, which allows for fast random access, while LinkedList uses a linked structure, which excels at insertions and deletions in the middle of the list.

What you did well:

You provided a concise and straightforward answer to the question without unnecessary complexity.

What you could have done differently (in light of best practices for interviews):

It's generally a good practice to mention some Big O notation analysis to support your points. For example, you could have mentioned that adding/removing elements in a LinkedList is O(1) for most cases but O(n) for ArrayList when it requires resizing. Reading elements from ArrayList is O(1), while in LinkedList, it's O(n) for accessing elements at arbitrary positions.

Overall, your answer is good, but adding a bit more technical depth would make it even stronger in an interview context.

Continue this conversation

|Terms of use|Privacy policy