2010/4/17 assembling signals <assembling.sign...@yandex.ru> > Hello, everyone! > > In the Collections utility class we have > > * emptyMap() > * emptySet() > > * unmodifiableSet(...) > * unmodifiableMap(...) > * unmodifiableSortedSet(...) > * unmodifiableSortedMap(...) > > So we have no > > * emptySortedMap() > * emptySortedSet() > > I have several times encountered situations where methods needed either > SortedSet or SortedMap. > > Do you think in would be appropriate to introduce the two proposed methods? > > Why not just changing the implementation of the existing emptyMap() and emptySet(), so they return an object that is additionally sorted? This would require a typecast, e.g. SortedMap<T> map = (SortedMap<T>)Collections.emptyMap(); but wouldn't require changing the existing API, or adding any new API. Just make very clear in the documentation that the typecast is valid only @since 1.7.
A+ Osvaldo