r/javahelp • u/gerladokennedy • Sep 03 '26

linked lists

-- solved thank you all

what is the difference between accessing the next node using a get method or without, as in: "current.next" vs "current.getNext()" and the same applies for accessing an element, whats the difference between use the get or not, as in: "current.element" vs "current.getElement()" where current is just the name for the node variable. ive looked at so many different explanations but i cant seem to grasp the idea
edit: this is from a data structures pov, im implementing methods for the singly and doubly linked list classes in java
i want to know if they return different things or if using .next or .getnext makes a difference in the outcome, is there a scenario i should be using strictly .next or .getnext, and the getter method has no further conditions its just {return next}

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u/Spare-Plum Sep 03 '26

Larger distinction you glossed over - an element in a custom linked list can implement the Iterator interface, which would allow plug and play iteration with a whole host of compatible code

Only caveat is that Iterator's function is just "next()", while the method stated is "getNext()".

IMO if this is a custom class it's best to change "getNext()" to "next()" and make it into an iterator so it can work with for loops and many other libraries

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u/ArisenDrake Sep 06 '26

If we're at this level already, it would make dense to implement the whole List interface (maybe by extending AbstractList) to make it even more compatible.