# The Collections Framework

Documentation Contents

> The collections framework is a unified architecture for representing and manipulating collections, allowing them to be manipulated independently of the details of their representation. It reduces programming effort while increasing performance. It allows for interoperability among unrelated APIs, reduces effort in designing and learning new APIs, and fosters software reuse. The framework is based on six collection interfaces. It includes implementations of these interfaces, and algorithms to manipulate them.

Overview

- Overview - An overview of the Collections framework.

API Specification

- API Reference - An annotated outline of the classes and interfaces comprising the collections framework, with links into the JavaDoc.

Tutorial

- Tutorial - A tutorial introduction to the collections framework with plenty of programming examples.

API Enhancements

- API Enhancements in J2SDK 1.4 - An annotated list of API changes between the 1.3 and 1.4 releases.
- API Enhancements in the Previous Release - An annotated list of previous API changes in the 1.3 release.

Design FAQ

- Design FAQ- Answers to frequently asked questions concerning the design of the collections framework.

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