Why would you not import java.util when declaring arraylists in a class [duplicate]

Question

I've been reviewing some code and I found the following for a field:

private List<String> listOfStrings = java.util.ArrayList<String>();

When would it be preferable to use this code as opposed to:

import java.util.ArrayList;

...

private List<String> listOfStrings = new ArrayList<String>();

Is there any benefit, apart from the difference in syntax?

Sam Estep · Accepted Answer · 2015-07-02 15:59:18Z

5

The only other possible benefit would be in a situation where another class called ArrayList exists. For instance:

package foo.bar;

class ArrayList { /* ... */ }

Then, if you wanted to use both this and the java.util class in the same file, you'd need to use the fully qualified name of one or both classes.

answered Jul 2, 2015 at 15:59

Sam Estep

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1 Comment

True. Although anyone willingly creating a class called ArrayList in anything but a sandbox should suffer a horrible punishment.