public static List<T> asList(T a) 
{
        return new ArrayList<  >(a);
}

Returns a fixed-size list backed by the specified array. (Changes to the returned list "write through" to the array.) This method acts as bridge between array-based and collection-based APIs, in combination with Collection#toArray . The returned list is serializable and implements RandomAccess .

This method also provides a convenient way to create a fixed-size list initialized to contain several elements:

    List<String> stooges = Arrays.asList("Larry", "Moe", "Curly");

 public static int binarySearch(long[] a,
    long key) 
{
        return binarySearch0(a, 0, a.length, key);
}

Searches the specified array of longs for the specified value using the binary search algorithm. The array must be sorted (as by the #sort(long[]) method) prior to making this call. If it is not sorted, the results are undefined. If the array contains multiple elements with the specified value, there is no guarantee which one will be found.

 public static int binarySearch(int[] a,
    int key) 
{
        return binarySearch0(a, 0, a.length, key);
}

Searches the specified array of ints for the specified value using the binary search algorithm. The array must be sorted (as by the #sort(int[]) method) prior to making this call. If it is not sorted, the results are undefined. If the array contains multiple elements with the specified value, there is no guarantee which one will be found.

 public static int binarySearch(short[] a,
    short key) 
{
        return binarySearch0(a, 0, a.length, key);
}

Searches the specified array of shorts for the specified value using the binary search algorithm. The array must be sorted (as by the #sort(short[]) method) prior to making this call. If it is not sorted, the results are undefined. If the array contains multiple elements with the specified value, there is no guarantee which one will be found.

 public static int binarySearch(char[] a,
    char key) 
{
        return binarySearch0(a, 0, a.length, key);
}

Searches the specified array of chars for the specified value using the binary search algorithm. The array must be sorted (as by the #sort(char[]) method) prior to making this call. If it is not sorted, the results are undefined. If the array contains multiple elements with the specified value, there is no guarantee which one will be found.

 public static int binarySearch(byte[] a,
    byte key) 
{
        return binarySearch0(a, 0, a.length, key);
}

Searches the specified array of bytes for the specified value using the binary search algorithm. The array must be sorted (as by the #sort(byte[]) method) prior to making this call. If it is not sorted, the results are undefined. If the array contains multiple elements with the specified value, there is no guarantee which one will be found.

 public static int binarySearch(double[] a,
    double key) 
{
        return binarySearch0(a, 0, a.length, key);
}

Searches the specified array of doubles for the specified value using the binary search algorithm. The array must be sorted (as by the #sort(double[]) method) prior to making this call. If it is not sorted, the results are undefined. If the array contains multiple elements with the specified value, there is no guarantee which one will be found. This method considers all NaN values to be equivalent and equal.

 public static int binarySearch(float[] a,
    float key) 
{
        return binarySearch0(a, 0, a.length, key);
}

Searches the specified array of floats for the specified value using the binary search algorithm. The array must be sorted (as by the #sort(float[]) method) prior to making this call. If it is not sorted, the results are undefined. If the array contains multiple elements with the specified value, there is no guarantee which one will be found. This method considers all NaN values to be equivalent and equal.

 public static int binarySearch(Object[] a,
    Object key) 
{
        return binarySearch0(a, 0, a.length, key);
}

Searches the specified array for the specified object using the binary search algorithm. The array must be sorted into ascending order according to the {@linkplain Comparable natural ordering} of its elements (as by the #sort(Object[]) method) prior to making this call. If it is not sorted, the results are undefined. (If the array contains elements that are not mutually comparable (for example, strings and integers), it cannot be sorted according to the natural ordering of its elements, hence results are undefined.) If the array contains multiple elements equal to the specified object, there is no guarantee which one will be found.

 public static int binarySearch(T[] a,
    T key,
    Comparator<? super T> c) 
{
        return binarySearch0(a, 0, a.length, key, c);
}

Searches the specified array for the specified object using the binary search algorithm. The array must be sorted into ascending order according to the specified comparator (as by the sort(T[], Comparator) method) prior to making this call. If it is not sorted, the results are undefined. If the array contains multiple elements equal to the specified object, there is no guarantee which one will be found.

 public static int binarySearch(long[] a,
    int fromIndex,
    int toIndex,
    long key) 
{
        rangeCheck(a.length, fromIndex, toIndex);
        return binarySearch0(a, fromIndex, toIndex, key);
}

Searches a range of the specified array of longs for the specified value using the binary search algorithm. The range must be sorted (as by the #sort(long[], int, int) method) prior to making this call. If it is not sorted, the results are undefined. If the range contains multiple elements with the specified value, there is no guarantee which one will be found.

 public static int binarySearch(int[] a,
    int fromIndex,
    int toIndex,
    int key) 
{
        rangeCheck(a.length, fromIndex, toIndex);
        return binarySearch0(a, fromIndex, toIndex, key);
}

Searches a range of the specified array of ints for the specified value using the binary search algorithm. The range must be sorted (as by the #sort(int[], int, int) method) prior to making this call. If it is not sorted, the results are undefined. If the range contains multiple elements with the specified value, there is no guarantee which one will be found.

 public static int binarySearch(short[] a,
    int fromIndex,
    int toIndex,
    short key) 
{
        rangeCheck(a.length, fromIndex, toIndex);
        return binarySearch0(a, fromIndex, toIndex, key);
}

Searches a range of the specified array of shorts for the specified value using the binary search algorithm. The range must be sorted (as by the #sort(short[], int, int) method) prior to making this call. If it is not sorted, the results are undefined. If the range contains multiple elements with the specified value, there is no guarantee which one will be found.

 public static int binarySearch(char[] a,
    int fromIndex,
    int toIndex,
    char key) 
{
        rangeCheck(a.length, fromIndex, toIndex);
        return binarySearch0(a, fromIndex, toIndex, key);
}

Searches a range of the specified array of chars for the specified value using the binary search algorithm. The range must be sorted (as by the #sort(char[], int, int) method) prior to making this call. If it is not sorted, the results are undefined. If the range contains multiple elements with the specified value, there is no guarantee which one will be found.

 public static int binarySearch(byte[] a,
    int fromIndex,
    int toIndex,
    byte key) 
{
        rangeCheck(a.length, fromIndex, toIndex);
        return binarySearch0(a, fromIndex, toIndex, key);
}

Searches a range of the specified array of bytes for the specified value using the binary search algorithm. The range must be sorted (as by the #sort(byte[], int, int) method) prior to making this call. If it is not sorted, the results are undefined. If the range contains multiple elements with the specified value, there is no guarantee which one will be found.

 public static int binarySearch(double[] a,
    int fromIndex,
    int toIndex,
    double key) 
{
        rangeCheck(a.length, fromIndex, toIndex);
        return binarySearch0(a, fromIndex, toIndex, key);
}

Searches a range of the specified array of doubles for the specified value using the binary search algorithm. The range must be sorted (as by the #sort(double[], int, int) method) prior to making this call. If it is not sorted, the results are undefined. If the range contains multiple elements with the specified value, there is no guarantee which one will be found. This method considers all NaN values to be equivalent and equal.

 public static int binarySearch(float[] a,
    int fromIndex,
    int toIndex,
    float key) 
{
        rangeCheck(a.length, fromIndex, toIndex);
        return binarySearch0(a, fromIndex, toIndex, key);
}

Searches a range of the specified array of floats for the specified value using the binary search algorithm. The range must be sorted (as by the #sort(float[], int, int) method) prior to making this call. If it is not sorted, the results are undefined. If the range contains multiple elements with the specified value, there is no guarantee which one will be found. This method considers all NaN values to be equivalent and equal.

 public static int binarySearch(Object[] a,
    int fromIndex,
    int toIndex,
    Object key) 
{
        rangeCheck(a.length, fromIndex, toIndex);
        return binarySearch0(a, fromIndex, toIndex, key);
}

Searches a range of the specified array for the specified object using the binary search algorithm. The range must be sorted into ascending order according to the {@linkplain Comparable natural ordering} of its elements (as by the #sort(Object[], int, int) method) prior to making this call. If it is not sorted, the results are undefined. (If the range contains elements that are not mutually comparable (for example, strings and integers), it cannot be sorted according to the natural ordering of its elements, hence results are undefined.) If the range contains multiple elements equal to the specified object, there is no guarantee which one will be found.

 public static int binarySearch(T[] a,
    int fromIndex,
    int toIndex,
    T key,
    Comparator<? super T> c) 
{
        rangeCheck(a.length, fromIndex, toIndex);
        return binarySearch0(a, fromIndex, toIndex, key, c);
}

Searches a range of the specified array for the specified object using the binary search algorithm. The range must be sorted into ascending order according to the specified comparator (as by the int, int, Comparator) int, int, Comparator) method) prior to making this call. If it is not sorted, the results are undefined. If the range contains multiple elements equal to the specified object, there is no guarantee which one will be found.

 public static T[] copyOf(T[] original,
    int newLength) 
{
        return (T[]) copyOf(original, newLength, original.getClass());
}

Copies the specified array, truncating or padding with nulls (if necessary) so the copy has the specified length. For all indices that are valid in both the original array and the copy, the two arrays will contain identical values. For any indices that are valid in the copy but not the original, the copy will contain null. Such indices will exist if and only if the specified length is greater than that of the original array. The resulting array is of exactly the same class as the original array.

 public static byte[] copyOf(byte[] original,
    int newLength) 
{
        byte[] copy = new byte[newLength];
        System.arraycopy(original, 0, copy, 0,
                         Math.min(original.length, newLength));
        return copy;
}

Copies the specified array, truncating or padding with zeros (if necessary) so the copy has the specified length. For all indices that are valid in both the original array and the copy, the two arrays will contain identical values. For any indices that are valid in the copy but not the original, the copy will contain (byte)0. Such indices will exist if and only if the specified length is greater than that of the original array.

 public static short[] copyOf(short[] original,
    int newLength) 
{
        short[] copy = new short[newLength];
        System.arraycopy(original, 0, copy, 0,
                         Math.min(original.length, newLength));
        return copy;
}

Copies the specified array, truncating or padding with zeros (if necessary) so the copy has the specified length. For all indices that are valid in both the original array and the copy, the two arrays will contain identical values. For any indices that are valid in the copy but not the original, the copy will contain (short)0. Such indices will exist if and only if the specified length is greater than that of the original array.

 public static int[] copyOf(int[] original,
    int newLength) 
{
        int[] copy = new int[newLength];
        System.arraycopy(original, 0, copy, 0,
                         Math.min(original.length, newLength));
        return copy;
}

Copies the specified array, truncating or padding with zeros (if necessary) so the copy has the specified length. For all indices that are valid in both the original array and the copy, the two arrays will contain identical values. For any indices that are valid in the copy but not the original, the copy will contain 0. Such indices will exist if and only if the specified length is greater than that of the original array.

 public static long[] copyOf(long[] original,
    int newLength) 
{
        long[] copy = new long[newLength];
        System.arraycopy(original, 0, copy, 0,
                         Math.min(original.length, newLength));
        return copy;
}

Copies the specified array, truncating or padding with zeros (if necessary) so the copy has the specified length. For all indices that are valid in both the original array and the copy, the two arrays will contain identical values. For any indices that are valid in the copy but not the original, the copy will contain 0L. Such indices will exist if and only if the specified length is greater than that of the original array.

 public static char[] copyOf(char[] original,
    int newLength) 
{
        char[] copy = new char[newLength];
        System.arraycopy(original, 0, copy, 0,
                         Math.min(original.length, newLength));
        return copy;
}

Copies the specified array, truncating or padding with null characters (if necessary) so the copy has the specified length. For all indices that are valid in both the original array and the copy, the two arrays will contain identical values. For any indices that are valid in the copy but not the original, the copy will contain '\\u000'. Such indices will exist if and only if the specified length is greater than that of the original array.

 public static float[] copyOf(float[] original,
    int newLength) 
{
        float[] copy = new float[newLength];
        System.arraycopy(original, 0, copy, 0,
                         Math.min(original.length, newLength));
        return copy;
}

Copies the specified array, truncating or padding with zeros (if necessary) so the copy has the specified length. For all indices that are valid in both the original array and the copy, the two arrays will contain identical values. For any indices that are valid in the copy but not the original, the copy will contain 0f. Such indices will exist if and only if the specified length is greater than that of the original array.

 public static double[] copyOf(double[] original,
    int newLength) 
{
        double[] copy = new double[newLength];
        System.arraycopy(original, 0, copy, 0,
                         Math.min(original.length, newLength));
        return copy;
}

Copies the specified array, truncating or padding with zeros (if necessary) so the copy has the specified length. For all indices that are valid in both the original array and the copy, the two arrays will contain identical values. For any indices that are valid in the copy but not the original, the copy will contain 0d. Such indices will exist if and only if the specified length is greater than that of the original array.

 public static boolean[] copyOf(boolean[] original,
    int newLength) 
{
        boolean[] copy = new boolean[newLength];
        System.arraycopy(original, 0, copy, 0,
                         Math.min(original.length, newLength));
        return copy;
}

Copies the specified array, truncating or padding with false (if necessary) so the copy has the specified length. For all indices that are valid in both the original array and the copy, the two arrays will contain identical values. For any indices that are valid in the copy but not the original, the copy will contain false. Such indices will exist if and only if the specified length is greater than that of the original array.

 public static T[] copyOf(U[] original,
    int newLength,
    Class<? extends T> newType) 
{
        T[] copy = ((Object)newType == (Object)Object[].class)
            ? (T[]) new Object[newLength]
            : (T[]) Array.newInstance(newType.getComponentType(), newLength);
        System.arraycopy(original, 0, copy, 0,
                         Math.min(original.length, newLength));
        return copy;
}

Copies the specified array, truncating or padding with nulls (if necessary) so the copy has the specified length. For all indices that are valid in both the original array and the copy, the two arrays will contain identical values. For any indices that are valid in the copy but not the original, the copy will contain null. Such indices will exist if and only if the specified length is greater than that of the original array. The resulting array is of the class newType.

 public static T[] copyOfRange(T[] original,
    int from,
    int to) 
{
        return copyOfRange(original, from, to, (Class< T[] >) original.getClass());
}

Copies the specified range of the specified array into a new array. The initial index of the range (from) must lie between zero and original.length, inclusive. The value at original[from] is placed into the initial element of the copy (unless from == original.length or from == to). Values from subsequent elements in the original array are placed into subsequent elements in the copy. The final index of the range (to), which must be greater than or equal to from, may be greater than original.length, in which case null is placed in all elements of the copy whose index is greater than or equal to original.length - from. The length of the returned array will be to - from.

The resulting array is of exactly the same class as the original array.

 public static byte[] copyOfRange(byte[] original,
    int from,
    int to) 
{
        int newLength = to - from;
        if (newLength <  0)
            throw new IllegalArgumentException(from + "  > " + to);
        byte[] copy = new byte[newLength];
        System.arraycopy(original, from, copy, 0,
                         Math.min(original.length - from, newLength));
        return copy;
}

Copies the specified range of the specified array into a new array. The initial index of the range (from) must lie between zero and original.length, inclusive. The value at original[from] is placed into the initial element of the copy (unless from == original.length or from == to). Values from subsequent elements in the original array are placed into subsequent elements in the copy. The final index of the range (to), which must be greater than or equal to from, may be greater than original.length, in which case (byte)0 is placed in all elements of the copy whose index is greater than or equal to original.length - from. The length of the returned array will be to - from.

 public static short[] copyOfRange(short[] original,
    int from,
    int to) 
{
        int newLength = to - from;
        if (newLength <  0)
            throw new IllegalArgumentException(from + "  > " + to);
        short[] copy = new short[newLength];
        System.arraycopy(original, from, copy, 0,
                         Math.min(original.length - from, newLength));
        return copy;
}

Copies the specified range of the specified array into a new array. The initial index of the range (from) must lie between zero and original.length, inclusive. The value at original[from] is placed into the initial element of the copy (unless from == original.length or from == to). Values from subsequent elements in the original array are placed into subsequent elements in the copy. The final index of the range (to), which must be greater than or equal to from, may be greater than original.length, in which case (short)0 is placed in all elements of the copy whose index is greater than or equal to original.length - from. The length of the returned array will be to - from.

 public static int[] copyOfRange(int[] original,
    int from,
    int to) 
{
        int newLength = to - from;
        if (newLength <  0)
            throw new IllegalArgumentException(from + "  > " + to);
        int[] copy = new int[newLength];
        System.arraycopy(original, from, copy, 0,
                         Math.min(original.length - from, newLength));
        return copy;
}

Copies the specified range of the specified array into a new array. The initial index of the range (from) must lie between zero and original.length, inclusive. The value at original[from] is placed into the initial element of the copy (unless from == original.length or from == to). Values from subsequent elements in the original array are placed into subsequent elements in the copy. The final index of the range (to), which must be greater than or equal to from, may be greater than original.length, in which case 0 is placed in all elements of the copy whose index is greater than or equal to original.length - from. The length of the returned array will be to - from.

 public static long[] copyOfRange(long[] original,
    int from,
    int to) 
{
        int newLength = to - from;
        if (newLength <  0)
            throw new IllegalArgumentException(from + "  > " + to);
        long[] copy = new long[newLength];
        System.arraycopy(original, from, copy, 0,
                         Math.min(original.length - from, newLength));
        return copy;
}

Copies the specified range of the specified array into a new array. The initial index of the range (from) must lie between zero and original.length, inclusive. The value at original[from] is placed into the initial element of the copy (unless from == original.length or from == to). Values from subsequent elements in the original array are placed into subsequent elements in the copy. The final index of the range (to), which must be greater than or equal to from, may be greater than original.length, in which case 0L is placed in all elements of the copy whose index is greater than or equal to original.length - from. The length of the returned array will be to - from.

 public static char[] copyOfRange(char[] original,
    int from,
    int to) 
{
        int newLength = to - from;
        if (newLength <  0)
            throw new IllegalArgumentException(from + "  > " + to);
        char[] copy = new char[newLength];
        System.arraycopy(original, from, copy, 0,
                         Math.min(original.length - from, newLength));
        return copy;
}

Copies the specified range of the specified array into a new array. The initial index of the range (from) must lie between zero and original.length, inclusive. The value at original[from] is placed into the initial element of the copy (unless from == original.length or from == to). Values from subsequent elements in the original array are placed into subsequent elements in the copy. The final index of the range (to), which must be greater than or equal to from, may be greater than original.length, in which case '\\u000' is placed in all elements of the copy whose index is greater than or equal to original.length - from. The length of the returned array will be to - from.

 public static float[] copyOfRange(float[] original,
    int from,
    int to) 
{
        int newLength = to - from;
        if (newLength <  0)
            throw new IllegalArgumentException(from + "  > " + to);
        float[] copy = new float[newLength];
        System.arraycopy(original, from, copy, 0,
                         Math.min(original.length - from, newLength));
        return copy;
}

Copies the specified range of the specified array into a new array. The initial index of the range (from) must lie between zero and original.length, inclusive. The value at original[from] is placed into the initial element of the copy (unless from == original.length or from == to). Values from subsequent elements in the original array are placed into subsequent elements in the copy. The final index of the range (to), which must be greater than or equal to from, may be greater than original.length, in which case 0f is placed in all elements of the copy whose index is greater than or equal to original.length - from. The length of the returned array will be to - from.

 public static double[] copyOfRange(double[] original,
    int from,
    int to) 
{
        int newLength = to - from;
        if (newLength <  0)
            throw new IllegalArgumentException(from + "  > " + to);
        double[] copy = new double[newLength];
        System.arraycopy(original, from, copy, 0,
                         Math.min(original.length - from, newLength));
        return copy;
}

Copies the specified range of the specified array into a new array. The initial index of the range (from) must lie between zero and original.length, inclusive. The value at original[from] is placed into the initial element of the copy (unless from == original.length or from == to). Values from subsequent elements in the original array are placed into subsequent elements in the copy. The final index of the range (to), which must be greater than or equal to from, may be greater than original.length, in which case 0d is placed in all elements of the copy whose index is greater than or equal to original.length - from. The length of the returned array will be to - from.

 public static boolean[] copyOfRange(boolean[] original,
    int from,
    int to) 
{
        int newLength = to - from;
        if (newLength <  0)
            throw new IllegalArgumentException(from + "  > " + to);
        boolean[] copy = new boolean[newLength];
        System.arraycopy(original, from, copy, 0,
                         Math.min(original.length - from, newLength));
        return copy;
}

Copies the specified range of the specified array into a new array. The initial index of the range (from) must lie between zero and original.length, inclusive. The value at original[from] is placed into the initial element of the copy (unless from == original.length or from == to). Values from subsequent elements in the original array are placed into subsequent elements in the copy. The final index of the range (to), which must be greater than or equal to from, may be greater than original.length, in which case false is placed in all elements of the copy whose index is greater than or equal to original.length - from. The length of the returned array will be to - from.

 public static T[] copyOfRange(U[] original,
    int from,
    int to,
    Class<? extends T> newType) 
{
        int newLength = to - from;
        if (newLength <  0)
            throw new IllegalArgumentException(from + "  > " + to);
        T[] copy = ((Object)newType == (Object)Object[].class)
            ? (T[]) new Object[newLength]
            : (T[]) Array.newInstance(newType.getComponentType(), newLength);
        System.arraycopy(original, from, copy, 0,
                         Math.min(original.length - from, newLength));
        return copy;
}

Copies the specified range of the specified array into a new array. The initial index of the range (from) must lie between zero and original.length, inclusive. The value at original[from] is placed into the initial element of the copy (unless from == original.length or from == to). Values from subsequent elements in the original array are placed into subsequent elements in the copy. The final index of the range (to), which must be greater than or equal to from, may be greater than original.length, in which case null is placed in all elements of the copy whose index is greater than or equal to original.length - from. The length of the returned array will be to - from. The resulting array is of the class newType.

 public static boolean deepEquals(Object[] a1,
    Object[] a2) 
{
        if (a1 == a2)
            return true;
        if (a1 == null || a2==null)
            return false;
        int length = a1.length;
        if (a2.length != length)
            return false;
        for (int i = 0; i <  length; i++) {
            Object e1 = a1[i];
            Object e2 = a2[i];
            if (e1 == e2)
                continue;
            if (e1 == null)
                return false;
            // Figure out whether the two elements are equal
            boolean eq = deepEquals0(e1, e2);
            if (!eq)
                return false;
        }
        return true;
}

Returns true if the two specified arrays are deeply equal to one another. Unlike the #equals(Object[],Object[]) method, this method is appropriate for use with nested arrays of arbitrary depth.

Two array references are considered deeply equal if both are null, or if they refer to arrays that contain the same number of elements and all corresponding pairs of elements in the two arrays are deeply equal.

Two possibly null elements e1 and e2 are deeply equal if any of the following conditions hold:

• e1 and e2 are both arrays of object reference types, and Arrays.deepEquals(e1, e2) would return true
• e1 and e2 are arrays of the same primitive type, and the appropriate overloading of Arrays.equals(e1, e2) would return true.
• e1 == e2
• e1.equals(e2) would return true.
Note that this definition permits null elements at any depth.

If either of the specified arrays contain themselves as elements either directly or indirectly through one or more levels of arrays, the behavior of this method is undefined.

 static boolean deepEquals0(Object e1,
    Object e2) 
{
        assert e1 != null;
        boolean eq;
        if (e1 instanceof Object[] && e2 instanceof Object[])
            eq = deepEquals ((Object[]) e1, (Object[]) e2);
        else if (e1 instanceof byte[] && e2 instanceof byte[])
            eq = equals((byte[]) e1, (byte[]) e2);
        else if (e1 instanceof short[] && e2 instanceof short[])
            eq = equals((short[]) e1, (short[]) e2);
        else if (e1 instanceof int[] && e2 instanceof int[])
            eq = equals((int[]) e1, (int[]) e2);
        else if (e1 instanceof long[] && e2 instanceof long[])
            eq = equals((long[]) e1, (long[]) e2);
        else if (e1 instanceof char[] && e2 instanceof char[])
            eq = equals((char[]) e1, (char[]) e2);
        else if (e1 instanceof float[] && e2 instanceof float[])
            eq = equals((float[]) e1, (float[]) e2);
        else if (e1 instanceof double[] && e2 instanceof double[])
            eq = equals((double[]) e1, (double[]) e2);
        else if (e1 instanceof boolean[] && e2 instanceof boolean[])
            eq = equals((boolean[]) e1, (boolean[]) e2);
        else
            eq = e1.equals(e2);
        return eq;
}

 public static int deepHashCode(Object[] a) 
{
        if (a == null)
            return 0;
        int result = 1;
        for (Object element : a) {
            int elementHash = 0;
            if (element instanceof Object[])
                elementHash = deepHashCode((Object[]) element);
            else if (element instanceof byte[])
                elementHash = hashCode((byte[]) element);
            else if (element instanceof short[])
                elementHash = hashCode((short[]) element);
            else if (element instanceof int[])
                elementHash = hashCode((int[]) element);
            else if (element instanceof long[])
                elementHash = hashCode((long[]) element);
            else if (element instanceof char[])
                elementHash = hashCode((char[]) element);
            else if (element instanceof float[])
                elementHash = hashCode((float[]) element);
            else if (element instanceof double[])
                elementHash = hashCode((double[]) element);
            else if (element instanceof boolean[])
                elementHash = hashCode((boolean[]) element);
            else if (element != null)
                elementHash = element.hashCode();
            result = 31 * result + elementHash;
        }
        return result;
}

Returns a hash code based on the "deep contents" of the specified array. If the array contains other arrays as elements, the hash code is based on their contents and so on, ad infinitum. It is therefore unacceptable to invoke this method on an array that contains itself as an element, either directly or indirectly through one or more levels of arrays. The behavior of such an invocation is undefined.

For any two arrays a and b such that Arrays.deepEquals(a, b), it is also the case that Arrays.deepHashCode(a) == Arrays.deepHashCode(b).

The computation of the value returned by this method is similar to that of the value returned by List#hashCode() on a list containing the same elements as a in the same order, with one difference: If an element e of a is itself an array, its hash code is computed not by calling e.hashCode(), but as by calling the appropriate overloading of Arrays.hashCode(e) if e is an array of a primitive type, or as by calling Arrays.deepHashCode(e) recursively if e is an array of a reference type. If a is null, this method returns 0.

 public static String deepToString(Object[] a) 
{
        if (a == null)
            return "null";
        int bufLen = 20 * a.length;
        if (a.length != 0 && bufLen < = 0)
            bufLen = Integer.MAX_VALUE;
        StringBuilder buf = new StringBuilder(bufLen);
        deepToString(a, buf, new HashSet< Object[] >());
        return buf.toString();
}

Returns a string representation of the "deep contents" of the specified array. If the array contains other arrays as elements, the string representation contains their contents and so on. This method is designed for converting multidimensional arrays to strings.

The string representation consists of a list of the array's elements, enclosed in square brackets ("[]"). Adjacent elements are separated by the characters ", " (a comma followed by a space). Elements are converted to strings as by String.valueOf(Object), unless they are themselves arrays.

If an element e is an array of a primitive type, it is converted to a string as by invoking the appropriate overloading of Arrays.toString(e). If an element e is an array of a reference type, it is converted to a string as by invoking this method recursively.

To avoid infinite recursion, if the specified array contains itself as an element, or contains an indirect reference to itself through one or more levels of arrays, the self-reference is converted to the string "[...]". For example, an array containing only a reference to itself would be rendered as "[[...]]".

This method returns "null" if the specified array is null.

 public static boolean equals(long[] a,
    long[] a2) 
{
        if (a==a2)
            return true;
        if (a==null || a2==null)
            return false;
        int length = a.length;
        if (a2.length != length)
            return false;
        for (int i=0; i< length; i++)
            if (a[i] != a2[i])
                return false;
        return true;
}

Returns true if the two specified arrays of longs are equal to one another. Two arrays are considered equal if both arrays contain the same number of elements, and all corresponding pairs of elements in the two arrays are equal. In other words, two arrays are equal if they contain the same elements in the same order. Also, two array references are considered equal if both are null.

 public static boolean equals(int[] a,
    int[] a2) 
{
        if (a==a2)
            return true;
        if (a==null || a2==null)
            return false;
        int length = a.length;
        if (a2.length != length)
            return false;
        for (int i=0; i< length; i++)
            if (a[i] != a2[i])
                return false;
        return true;
}

Returns true if the two specified arrays of ints are equal to one another. Two arrays are considered equal if both arrays contain the same number of elements, and all corresponding pairs of elements in the two arrays are equal. In other words, two arrays are equal if they contain the same elements in the same order. Also, two array references are considered equal if both are null.

 public static boolean equals(short[] a,
    short[] a2) 
{
        if (a==a2)
            return true;
        if (a==null || a2==null)
            return false;
        int length = a.length;
        if (a2.length != length)
            return false;
        for (int i=0; i< length; i++)
            if (a[i] != a2[i])
                return false;
        return true;
}

Returns true if the two specified arrays of shorts are equal to one another. Two arrays are considered equal if both arrays contain the same number of elements, and all corresponding pairs of elements in the two arrays are equal. In other words, two arrays are equal if they contain the same elements in the same order. Also, two array references are considered equal if both are null.

 public static boolean equals(char[] a,
    char[] a2) 
{
        if (a==a2)
            return true;
        if (a==null || a2==null)
            return false;
        int length = a.length;
        if (a2.length != length)
            return false;
        for (int i=0; i< length; i++)
            if (a[i] != a2[i])
                return false;
        return true;
}

Returns true if the two specified arrays of chars are equal to one another. Two arrays are considered equal if both arrays contain the same number of elements, and all corresponding pairs of elements in the two arrays are equal. In other words, two arrays are equal if they contain the same elements in the same order. Also, two array references are considered equal if both are null.

 public static boolean equals(byte[] a,
    byte[] a2) 
{
        if (a==a2)
            return true;
        if (a==null || a2==null)
            return false;
        int length = a.length;
        if (a2.length != length)
            return false;
        for (int i=0; i< length; i++)
            if (a[i] != a2[i])
                return false;
        return true;
}

Returns true if the two specified arrays of bytes are equal to one another. Two arrays are considered equal if both arrays contain the same number of elements, and all corresponding pairs of elements in the two arrays are equal. In other words, two arrays are equal if they contain the same elements in the same order. Also, two array references are considered equal if both are null.

 public static boolean equals(boolean[] a,
    boolean[] a2) 
{
        if (a==a2)
            return true;
        if (a==null || a2==null)
            return false;
        int length = a.length;
        if (a2.length != length)
            return false;
        for (int i=0; i< length; i++)
            if (a[i] != a2[i])
                return false;
        return true;
}

Returns true if the two specified arrays of booleans are equal to one another. Two arrays are considered equal if both arrays contain the same number of elements, and all corresponding pairs of elements in the two arrays are equal. In other words, two arrays are equal if they contain the same elements in the same order. Also, two array references are considered equal if both are null.

 public static boolean equals(double[] a,
    double[] a2) 
{
        if (a==a2)
            return true;
        if (a==null || a2==null)
            return false;
        int length = a.length;
        if (a2.length != length)
            return false;
        for (int i=0; i< length; i++)
            if (Double.doubleToLongBits(a[i])!=Double.doubleToLongBits(a2[i]))
                return false;
        return true;
}

Returns true if the two specified arrays of doubles are equal to one another. Two arrays are considered equal if both arrays contain the same number of elements, and all corresponding pairs of elements in the two arrays are equal. In other words, two arrays are equal if they contain the same elements in the same order. Also, two array references are considered equal if both are null.

Two doubles d1 and d2 are considered equal if:

    new Double(d1).equals(new Double(d2))

(Unlike the == operator, this method considers NaN equals to itself, and 0.0d unequal to -0.0d.)

 public static boolean equals(float[] a,
    float[] a2) 
{
        if (a==a2)
            return true;
        if (a==null || a2==null)
            return false;
        int length = a.length;
        if (a2.length != length)
            return false;
        for (int i=0; i< length; i++)
            if (Float.floatToIntBits(a[i])!=Float.floatToIntBits(a2[i]))
                return false;
        return true;
}

Returns true if the two specified arrays of floats are equal to one another. Two arrays are considered equal if both arrays contain the same number of elements, and all corresponding pairs of elements in the two arrays are equal. In other words, two arrays are equal if they contain the same elements in the same order. Also, two array references are considered equal if both are null.

Two floats f1 and f2 are considered equal if:

    new Float(f1).equals(new Float(f2))

(Unlike the == operator, this method considers NaN equals to itself, and 0.0f unequal to -0.0f.)

 public static boolean equals(Object[] a,
    Object[] a2) 
{
        if (a==a2)
            return true;
        if (a==null || a2==null)
            return false;
        int length = a.length;
        if (a2.length != length)
            return false;
        for (int i=0; i< length; i++) {
            Object o1 = a[i];
            Object o2 = a2[i];
            if (!(o1==null ? o2==null : o1.equals(o2)))
                return false;
        }
        return true;
}

Returns true if the two specified arrays of Objects are equal to one another. The two arrays are considered equal if both arrays contain the same number of elements, and all corresponding pairs of elements in the two arrays are equal. Two objects e1 and e2 are considered equal if (e1==null ? e2==null : e1.equals(e2)). In other words, the two arrays are equal if they contain the same elements in the same order. Also, two array references are considered equal if both are null.

 public static  void fill(long[] a,
    long val) 
{
        for (int i = 0, len = a.length; i <  len; i++)
            a[i] = val;
}

Assigns the specified long value to each element of the specified array of longs.

 public static  void fill(int[] a,
    int val) 
{
        for (int i = 0, len = a.length; i <  len; i++)
            a[i] = val;
}

Assigns the specified int value to each element of the specified array of ints.

 public static  void fill(short[] a,
    short val) 
{
        for (int i = 0, len = a.length; i <  len; i++)
            a[i] = val;
}

Assigns the specified short value to each element of the specified array of shorts.

 public static  void fill(char[] a,
    char val) 
{
        for (int i = 0, len = a.length; i <  len; i++)
            a[i] = val;
}

Assigns the specified char value to each element of the specified array of chars.

 public static  void fill(byte[] a,
    byte val) 
{
        for (int i = 0, len = a.length; i <  len; i++)
            a[i] = val;
}

Assigns the specified byte value to each element of the specified array of bytes.

 public static  void fill(boolean[] a,
    boolean val) 
{
        for (int i = 0, len = a.length; i <  len; i++)
            a[i] = val;
}

Assigns the specified boolean value to each element of the specified array of booleans.

 public static  void fill(double[] a,
    double val) 
{
        for (int i = 0, len = a.length; i <  len; i++)
            a[i] = val;
}

Assigns the specified double value to each element of the specified array of doubles.

 public static  void fill(float[] a,
    float val) 
{
        for (int i = 0, len = a.length; i <  len; i++)
            a[i] = val;
}

Assigns the specified float value to each element of the specified array of floats.

 public static  void fill(Object[] a,
    Object val) 
{
        for (int i = 0, len = a.length; i <  len; i++)
            a[i] = val;
}

Assigns the specified Object reference to each element of the specified array of Objects.

 public static  void fill(long[] a,
    int fromIndex,
    int toIndex,
    long val) 
{
        rangeCheck(a.length, fromIndex, toIndex);
        for (int i = fromIndex; i <  toIndex; i++)
            a[i] = val;
}

Assigns the specified long value to each element of the specified range of the specified array of longs. The range to be filled extends from index fromIndex, inclusive, to index toIndex, exclusive. (If fromIndex==toIndex, the range to be filled is empty.)

 public static  void fill(int[] a,
    int fromIndex,
    int toIndex,
    int val) 
{
        rangeCheck(a.length, fromIndex, toIndex);
        for (int i = fromIndex; i <  toIndex; i++)
            a[i] = val;
}

Assigns the specified int value to each element of the specified range of the specified array of ints. The range to be filled extends from index fromIndex, inclusive, to index toIndex, exclusive. (If fromIndex==toIndex, the range to be filled is empty.)

 public static  void fill(short[] a,
    int fromIndex,
    int toIndex,
    short val) 
{
        rangeCheck(a.length, fromIndex, toIndex);
        for (int i = fromIndex; i <  toIndex; i++)
            a[i] = val;
}

Assigns the specified short value to each element of the specified range of the specified array of shorts. The range to be filled extends from index fromIndex, inclusive, to index toIndex, exclusive. (If fromIndex==toIndex, the range to be filled is empty.)

 public static  void fill(char[] a,
    int fromIndex,
    int toIndex,
    char val) 
{
        rangeCheck(a.length, fromIndex, toIndex);
        for (int i = fromIndex; i <  toIndex; i++)
            a[i] = val;
}

Assigns the specified char value to each element of the specified range of the specified array of chars. The range to be filled extends from index fromIndex, inclusive, to index toIndex, exclusive. (If fromIndex==toIndex, the range to be filled is empty.)

 public static  void fill(byte[] a,
    int fromIndex,
    int toIndex,
    byte val) 
{
        rangeCheck(a.length, fromIndex, toIndex);
        for (int i = fromIndex; i <  toIndex; i++)
            a[i] = val;
}

Assigns the specified byte value to each element of the specified range of the specified array of bytes. The range to be filled extends from index fromIndex, inclusive, to index toIndex, exclusive. (If fromIndex==toIndex, the range to be filled is empty.)

 public static  void fill(boolean[] a,
    int fromIndex,
    int toIndex,
    boolean val) 
{
        rangeCheck(a.length, fromIndex, toIndex);
        for (int i = fromIndex; i <  toIndex; i++)
            a[i] = val;
}

Assigns the specified boolean value to each element of the specified range of the specified array of booleans. The range to be filled extends from index fromIndex, inclusive, to index toIndex, exclusive. (If fromIndex==toIndex, the range to be filled is empty.)

 public static  void fill(double[] a,
    int fromIndex,
    int toIndex,
    double val) 
{
        rangeCheck(a.length, fromIndex, toIndex);
        for (int i = fromIndex; i <  toIndex; i++)
            a[i] = val;
}

Assigns the specified double value to each element of the specified range of the specified array of doubles. The range to be filled extends from index fromIndex, inclusive, to index toIndex, exclusive. (If fromIndex==toIndex, the range to be filled is empty.)

 public static  void fill(float[] a,
    int fromIndex,
    int toIndex,
    float val) 
{
        rangeCheck(a.length, fromIndex, toIndex);
        for (int i = fromIndex; i <  toIndex; i++)
            a[i] = val;
}

Assigns the specified float value to each element of the specified range of the specified array of floats. The range to be filled extends from index fromIndex, inclusive, to index toIndex, exclusive. (If fromIndex==toIndex, the range to be filled is empty.)

 public static  void fill(Object[] a,
    int fromIndex,
    int toIndex,
    Object val) 
{
        rangeCheck(a.length, fromIndex, toIndex);
        for (int i = fromIndex; i <  toIndex; i++)
            a[i] = val;
}

Assigns the specified Object reference to each element of the specified range of the specified array of Objects. The range to be filled extends from index fromIndex, inclusive, to index toIndex, exclusive. (If fromIndex==toIndex, the range to be filled is empty.)

 public static int hashCode(long[] a) 
{
        if (a == null)
            return 0;
        int result = 1;
        for (long element : a) {
            int elementHash = (int)(element ^ (element  > > > 32));
            result = 31 * result + elementHash;
        }
        return result;
}

Returns a hash code based on the contents of the specified array. For any two long arrays a and b such that Arrays.equals(a, b), it is also the case that Arrays.hashCode(a) == Arrays.hashCode(b).

The value returned by this method is the same value that would be obtained by invoking the hashCode method on a List containing a sequence of Long instances representing the elements of a in the same order. If a is null, this method returns 0.

 public static int hashCode(int[] a) 
{
        if (a == null)
            return 0;
        int result = 1;
        for (int element : a)
            result = 31 * result + element;
        return result;
}

Returns a hash code based on the contents of the specified array. For any two non-null int arrays a and b such that Arrays.equals(a, b), it is also the case that Arrays.hashCode(a) == Arrays.hashCode(b).

The value returned by this method is the same value that would be obtained by invoking the hashCode method on a List containing a sequence of Integer instances representing the elements of a in the same order. If a is null, this method returns 0.

 public static int hashCode(short[] a) 
{
        if (a == null)
            return 0;
        int result = 1;
        for (short element : a)
            result = 31 * result + element;
        return result;
}

Returns a hash code based on the contents of the specified array. For any two short arrays a and b such that Arrays.equals(a, b), it is also the case that Arrays.hashCode(a) == Arrays.hashCode(b).

The value returned by this method is the same value that would be obtained by invoking the hashCode method on a List containing a sequence of Short instances representing the elements of a in the same order. If a is null, this method returns 0.

 public static int hashCode(char[] a) 
{
        if (a == null)
            return 0;
        int result = 1;
        for (char element : a)
            result = 31 * result + element;
        return result;
}

Returns a hash code based on the contents of the specified array. For any two char arrays a and b such that Arrays.equals(a, b), it is also the case that Arrays.hashCode(a) == Arrays.hashCode(b).

The value returned by this method is the same value that would be obtained by invoking the hashCode method on a List containing a sequence of Character instances representing the elements of a in the same order. If a is null, this method returns 0.

 public static int hashCode(byte[] a) 
{
        if (a == null)
            return 0;
        int result = 1;
        for (byte element : a)
            result = 31 * result + element;
        return result;
}

Returns a hash code based on the contents of the specified array. For any two byte arrays a and b such that Arrays.equals(a, b), it is also the case that Arrays.hashCode(a) == Arrays.hashCode(b).

The value returned by this method is the same value that would be obtained by invoking the hashCode method on a List containing a sequence of Byte instances representing the elements of a in the same order. If a is null, this method returns 0.

 public static int hashCode(boolean[] a) 
{
        if (a == null)
            return 0;
        int result = 1;
        for (boolean element : a)
            result = 31 * result + (element ? 1231 : 1237);
        return result;
}

Returns a hash code based on the contents of the specified array. For any two boolean arrays a and b such that Arrays.equals(a, b), it is also the case that Arrays.hashCode(a) == Arrays.hashCode(b).

The value returned by this method is the same value that would be obtained by invoking the hashCode method on a List containing a sequence of Boolean instances representing the elements of a in the same order. If a is null, this method returns 0.

 public static int hashCode(float[] a) 
{
        if (a == null)
            return 0;
        int result = 1;
        for (float element : a)
            result = 31 * result + Float.floatToIntBits(element);
        return result;
}

Returns a hash code based on the contents of the specified array. For any two float arrays a and b such that Arrays.equals(a, b), it is also the case that Arrays.hashCode(a) == Arrays.hashCode(b).

The value returned by this method is the same value that would be obtained by invoking the hashCode method on a List containing a sequence of Float instances representing the elements of a in the same order. If a is null, this method returns 0.

 public static int hashCode(double[] a) 
{
        if (a == null)
            return 0;
        int result = 1;
        for (double element : a) {
            long bits = Double.doubleToLongBits(element);
            result = 31 * result + (int)(bits ^ (bits  > > > 32));
        }
        return result;
}

Returns a hash code based on the contents of the specified array. For any two double arrays a and b such that Arrays.equals(a, b), it is also the case that Arrays.hashCode(a) == Arrays.hashCode(b).

The value returned by this method is the same value that would be obtained by invoking the hashCode method on a List containing a sequence of Double instances representing the elements of a in the same order. If a is null, this method returns 0.

 public static int hashCode(Object[] a) 
{
        if (a == null)
            return 0;
        int result = 1;
        for (Object element : a)
            result = 31 * result + (element == null ? 0 : element.hashCode());
        return result;
}

Returns a hash code based on the contents of the specified array. If the array contains other arrays as elements, the hash code is based on their identities rather than their contents. It is therefore acceptable to invoke this method on an array that contains itself as an element, either directly or indirectly through one or more levels of arrays.

For any two arrays a and b such that Arrays.equals(a, b), it is also the case that Arrays.hashCode(a) == Arrays.hashCode(b).

The value returned by this method is equal to the value that would be returned by Arrays.asList(a).hashCode(), unless a is null, in which case 0 is returned.

 public static  void sort(int[] a) 
{
        DualPivotQuicksort.sort(a);
}

Sorts the specified array into ascending numerical order.

Implementation note: The sorting algorithm is a Dual-Pivot Quicksort by Vladimir Yaroslavskiy, Jon Bentley, and Joshua Bloch. This algorithm offers O(n log(n)) performance on many data sets that cause other quicksorts to degrade to quadratic performance, and is typically faster than traditional (one-pivot) Quicksort implementations.

 public static  void sort(long[] a) 
{
        DualPivotQuicksort.sort(a);
}

Sorts the specified array into ascending numerical order.

Implementation note: The sorting algorithm is a Dual-Pivot Quicksort by Vladimir Yaroslavskiy, Jon Bentley, and Joshua Bloch. This algorithm offers O(n log(n)) performance on many data sets that cause other quicksorts to degrade to quadratic performance, and is typically faster than traditional (one-pivot) Quicksort implementations.

 public static  void sort(short[] a) 
{
        DualPivotQuicksort.sort(a);
}

Sorts the specified array into ascending numerical order.

Implementation note: The sorting algorithm is a Dual-Pivot Quicksort by Vladimir Yaroslavskiy, Jon Bentley, and Joshua Bloch. This algorithm offers O(n log(n)) performance on many data sets that cause other quicksorts to degrade to quadratic performance, and is typically faster than traditional (one-pivot) Quicksort implementations.

 public static  void sort(char[] a) 
{
        DualPivotQuicksort.sort(a);
}

Sorts the specified array into ascending numerical order.

Implementation note: The sorting algorithm is a Dual-Pivot Quicksort by Vladimir Yaroslavskiy, Jon Bentley, and Joshua Bloch. This algorithm offers O(n log(n)) performance on many data sets that cause other quicksorts to degrade to quadratic performance, and is typically faster than traditional (one-pivot) Quicksort implementations.

 public static  void sort(byte[] a) 
{
        DualPivotQuicksort.sort(a);
}

Sorts the specified array into ascending numerical order.

Implementation note: The sorting algorithm is a Dual-Pivot Quicksort by Vladimir Yaroslavskiy, Jon Bentley, and Joshua Bloch. This algorithm offers O(n log(n)) performance on many data sets that cause other quicksorts to degrade to quadratic performance, and is typically faster than traditional (one-pivot) Quicksort implementations.

 public static  void sort(float[] a) 
{
        DualPivotQuicksort.sort(a);
}

Sorts the specified array into ascending numerical order.

The {@code <} relation does not provide a total order on all float values: {@code -0.0f == 0.0f} is {@code true} and a {@code Float.NaN} value compares neither less than, greater than, nor equal to any value, even itself. This method uses the total order imposed by the method Float#compareTo : {@code -0.0f} is treated as less than value {@code 0.0f} and {@code Float.NaN} is considered greater than any other value and all {@code Float.NaN} values are considered equal.

Implementation note: The sorting algorithm is a Dual-Pivot Quicksort by Vladimir Yaroslavskiy, Jon Bentley, and Joshua Bloch. This algorithm offers O(n log(n)) performance on many data sets that cause other quicksorts to degrade to quadratic performance, and is typically faster than traditional (one-pivot) Quicksort implementations.

 public static  void sort(double[] a) 
{
        DualPivotQuicksort.sort(a);
}

Sorts the specified array into ascending numerical order.

The {@code <} relation does not provide a total order on all double values: {@code -0.0d == 0.0d} is {@code true} and a {@code Double.NaN} value compares neither less than, greater than, nor equal to any value, even itself. This method uses the total order imposed by the method Double#compareTo : {@code -0.0d} is treated as less than value {@code 0.0d} and {@code Double.NaN} is considered greater than any other value and all {@code Double.NaN} values are considered equal.

Implementation note: The sorting algorithm is a Dual-Pivot Quicksort by Vladimir Yaroslavskiy, Jon Bentley, and Joshua Bloch. This algorithm offers O(n log(n)) performance on many data sets that cause other quicksorts to degrade to quadratic performance, and is typically faster than traditional (one-pivot) Quicksort implementations.

 public static  void sort(Object[] a) 
{
        if (LegacyMergeSort.userRequested)
            legacyMergeSort(a);
        else
            ComparableTimSort.sort(a);
}

Sorts the specified array of objects into ascending order, according to the {@linkplain Comparable natural ordering} of its elements. All elements in the array must implement the Comparable interface. Furthermore, all elements in the array must be mutually comparable (that is, {@code e1.compareTo(e2)} must not throw a {@code ClassCastException} for any elements {@code e1} and {@code e2} in the array).

This sort is guaranteed to be stable: equal elements will not be reordered as a result of the sort.

Implementation note: This implementation is a stable, adaptive, iterative mergesort that requires far fewer than n lg(n) comparisons when the input array is partially sorted, while offering the performance of a traditional mergesort when the input array is randomly ordered. If the input array is nearly sorted, the implementation requires approximately n comparisons. Temporary storage requirements vary from a small constant for nearly sorted input arrays to n/2 object references for randomly ordered input arrays.

The implementation takes equal advantage of ascending and descending order in its input array, and can take advantage of ascending and descending order in different parts of the the same input array. It is well-suited to merging two or more sorted arrays: simply concatenate the arrays and sort the resulting array.

The implementation was adapted from Tim Peters's list sort for Python ( TimSort). It uses techiques from Peter McIlroy's "Optimistic Sorting and Information Theoretic Complexity", in Proceedings of the Fourth Annual ACM-SIAM Symposium on Discrete Algorithms, pp 467-474, January 1993.

 public static  void sort(T[] a,
    Comparator<? super T> c) 
{
        if (LegacyMergeSort.userRequested)
            legacyMergeSort(a, c);
        else
            TimSort.sort(a, c);
}

Sorts the specified array of objects according to the order induced by the specified comparator. All elements in the array must be mutually comparable by the specified comparator (that is, {@code c.compare(e1, e2)} must not throw a {@code ClassCastException} for any elements {@code e1} and {@code e2} in the array).

This sort is guaranteed to be stable: equal elements will not be reordered as a result of the sort.

Implementation note: This implementation is a stable, adaptive, iterative mergesort that requires far fewer than n lg(n) comparisons when the input array is partially sorted, while offering the performance of a traditional mergesort when the input array is randomly ordered. If the input array is nearly sorted, the implementation requires approximately n comparisons. Temporary storage requirements vary from a small constant for nearly sorted input arrays to n/2 object references for randomly ordered input arrays.

The implementation takes equal advantage of ascending and descending order in its input array, and can take advantage of ascending and descending order in different parts of the the same input array. It is well-suited to merging two or more sorted arrays: simply concatenate the arrays and sort the resulting array.

The implementation was adapted from Tim Peters's list sort for Python ( TimSort). It uses techiques from Peter McIlroy's "Optimistic Sorting and Information Theoretic Complexity", in Proceedings of the Fourth Annual ACM-SIAM Symposium on Discrete Algorithms, pp 467-474, January 1993.

 public static  void sort(int[] a,
    int fromIndex,
    int toIndex) 
{
        rangeCheck(a.length, fromIndex, toIndex);
        DualPivotQuicksort.sort(a, fromIndex, toIndex - 1);
}

Sorts the specified range of the array into ascending order. The range to be sorted extends from the index {@code fromIndex}, inclusive, to the index {@code toIndex}, exclusive. If {@code fromIndex == toIndex}, the range to be sorted is empty.

Implementation note: The sorting algorithm is a Dual-Pivot Quicksort by Vladimir Yaroslavskiy, Jon Bentley, and Joshua Bloch. This algorithm offers O(n log(n)) performance on many data sets that cause other quicksorts to degrade to quadratic performance, and is typically faster than traditional (one-pivot) Quicksort implementations.

 public static  void sort(long[] a,
    int fromIndex,
    int toIndex) 
{
        rangeCheck(a.length, fromIndex, toIndex);
        DualPivotQuicksort.sort(a, fromIndex, toIndex - 1);
}

Sorts the specified range of the array into ascending order. The range to be sorted extends from the index {@code fromIndex}, inclusive, to the index {@code toIndex}, exclusive. If {@code fromIndex == toIndex}, the range to be sorted is empty.

Implementation note: The sorting algorithm is a Dual-Pivot Quicksort by Vladimir Yaroslavskiy, Jon Bentley, and Joshua Bloch. This algorithm offers O(n log(n)) performance on many data sets that cause other quicksorts to degrade to quadratic performance, and is typically faster than traditional (one-pivot) Quicksort implementations.

 public static  void sort(short[] a,
    int fromIndex,
    int toIndex) 
{
        rangeCheck(a.length, fromIndex, toIndex);
        DualPivotQuicksort.sort(a, fromIndex, toIndex - 1);
}

Sorts the specified range of the array into ascending order. The range to be sorted extends from the index {@code fromIndex}, inclusive, to the index {@code toIndex}, exclusive. If {@code fromIndex == toIndex}, the range to be sorted is empty.

Implementation note: The sorting algorithm is a Dual-Pivot Quicksort by Vladimir Yaroslavskiy, Jon Bentley, and Joshua Bloch. This algorithm offers O(n log(n)) performance on many data sets that cause other quicksorts to degrade to quadratic performance, and is typically faster than traditional (one-pivot) Quicksort implementations.

 public static  void sort(char[] a,
    int fromIndex,
    int toIndex) 
{
        rangeCheck(a.length, fromIndex, toIndex);
        DualPivotQuicksort.sort(a, fromIndex, toIndex - 1);
}

Sorts the specified range of the array into ascending order. The range to be sorted extends from the index {@code fromIndex}, inclusive, to the index {@code toIndex}, exclusive. If {@code fromIndex == toIndex}, the range to be sorted is empty.

Implementation note: The sorting algorithm is a Dual-Pivot Quicksort by Vladimir Yaroslavskiy, Jon Bentley, and Joshua Bloch. This algorithm offers O(n log(n)) performance on many data sets that cause other quicksorts to degrade to quadratic performance, and is typically faster than traditional (one-pivot) Quicksort implementations.

 public static  void sort(byte[] a,
    int fromIndex,
    int toIndex) 
{
        rangeCheck(a.length, fromIndex, toIndex);
        DualPivotQuicksort.sort(a, fromIndex, toIndex - 1);
}

Sorts the specified range of the array into ascending order. The range to be sorted extends from the index {@code fromIndex}, inclusive, to the index {@code toIndex}, exclusive. If {@code fromIndex == toIndex}, the range to be sorted is empty.

Implementation note: The sorting algorithm is a Dual-Pivot Quicksort by Vladimir Yaroslavskiy, Jon Bentley, and Joshua Bloch. This algorithm offers O(n log(n)) performance on many data sets that cause other quicksorts to degrade to quadratic performance, and is typically faster than traditional (one-pivot) Quicksort implementations.

 public static  void sort(float[] a,
    int fromIndex,
    int toIndex) 
{
        rangeCheck(a.length, fromIndex, toIndex);
        DualPivotQuicksort.sort(a, fromIndex, toIndex - 1);
}

Sorts the specified range of the array into ascending order. The range to be sorted extends from the index {@code fromIndex}, inclusive, to the index {@code toIndex}, exclusive. If {@code fromIndex == toIndex}, the range to be sorted is empty.

The {@code <} relation does not provide a total order on all float values: {@code -0.0f == 0.0f} is {@code true} and a {@code Float.NaN} value compares neither less than, greater than, nor equal to any value, even itself. This method uses the total order imposed by the method Float#compareTo : {@code -0.0f} is treated as less than value {@code 0.0f} and {@code Float.NaN} is considered greater than any other value and all {@code Float.NaN} values are considered equal.

Implementation note: The sorting algorithm is a Dual-Pivot Quicksort by Vladimir Yaroslavskiy, Jon Bentley, and Joshua Bloch. This algorithm offers O(n log(n)) performance on many data sets that cause other quicksorts to degrade to quadratic performance, and is typically faster than traditional (one-pivot) Quicksort implementations.

 public static  void sort(double[] a,
    int fromIndex,
    int toIndex) 
{
        rangeCheck(a.length, fromIndex, toIndex);
        DualPivotQuicksort.sort(a, fromIndex, toIndex - 1);
}

Sorts the specified range of the array into ascending order. The range to be sorted extends from the index {@code fromIndex}, inclusive, to the index {@code toIndex}, exclusive. If {@code fromIndex == toIndex}, the range to be sorted is empty.

The {@code <} relation does not provide a total order on all double values: {@code -0.0d == 0.0d} is {@code true} and a {@code Double.NaN} value compares neither less than, greater than, nor equal to any value, even itself. This method uses the total order imposed by the method Double#compareTo : {@code -0.0d} is treated as less than value {@code 0.0d} and {@code Double.NaN} is considered greater than any other value and all {@code Double.NaN} values are considered equal.

Implementation note: The sorting algorithm is a Dual-Pivot Quicksort by Vladimir Yaroslavskiy, Jon Bentley, and Joshua Bloch. This algorithm offers O(n log(n)) performance on many data sets that cause other quicksorts to degrade to quadratic performance, and is typically faster than traditional (one-pivot) Quicksort implementations.

 public static  void sort(Object[] a,
    int fromIndex,
    int toIndex) 
{
        if (LegacyMergeSort.userRequested)
            legacyMergeSort(a, fromIndex, toIndex);
        else
            ComparableTimSort.sort(a, fromIndex, toIndex);
}

Sorts the specified range of the specified array of objects into ascending order, according to the {@linkplain Comparable natural ordering} of its elements. The range to be sorted extends from index {@code fromIndex}, inclusive, to index {@code toIndex}, exclusive. (If {@code fromIndex==toIndex}, the range to be sorted is empty.) All elements in this range must implement the Comparable interface. Furthermore, all elements in this range must be mutually comparable (that is, {@code e1.compareTo(e2)} must not throw a {@code ClassCastException} for any elements {@code e1} and {@code e2} in the array).

This sort is guaranteed to be stable: equal elements will not be reordered as a result of the sort.

Implementation note: This implementation is a stable, adaptive, iterative mergesort that requires far fewer than n lg(n) comparisons when the input array is partially sorted, while offering the performance of a traditional mergesort when the input array is randomly ordered. If the input array is nearly sorted, the implementation requires approximately n comparisons. Temporary storage requirements vary from a small constant for nearly sorted input arrays to n/2 object references for randomly ordered input arrays.

The implementation takes equal advantage of ascending and descending order in its input array, and can take advantage of ascending and descending order in different parts of the the same input array. It is well-suited to merging two or more sorted arrays: simply concatenate the arrays and sort the resulting array.

The implementation was adapted from Tim Peters's list sort for Python ( TimSort). It uses techiques from Peter McIlroy's "Optimistic Sorting and Information Theoretic Complexity", in Proceedings of the Fourth Annual ACM-SIAM Symposium on Discrete Algorithms, pp 467-474, January 1993.

 public static  void sort(T[] a,
    int fromIndex,
    int toIndex,
    Comparator<? super T> c) 
{
        if (LegacyMergeSort.userRequested)
            legacyMergeSort(a, fromIndex, toIndex, c);
        else
            TimSort.sort(a, fromIndex, toIndex, c);
}

Sorts the specified range of the specified array of objects according to the order induced by the specified comparator. The range to be sorted extends from index {@code fromIndex}, inclusive, to index {@code toIndex}, exclusive. (If {@code fromIndex==toIndex}, the range to be sorted is empty.) All elements in the range must be mutually comparable by the specified comparator (that is, {@code c.compare(e1, e2)} must not throw a {@code ClassCastException} for any elements {@code e1} and {@code e2} in the range).

This sort is guaranteed to be stable: equal elements will not be reordered as a result of the sort.

Implementation note: This implementation is a stable, adaptive, iterative mergesort that requires far fewer than n lg(n) comparisons when the input array is partially sorted, while offering the performance of a traditional mergesort when the input array is randomly ordered. If the input array is nearly sorted, the implementation requires approximately n comparisons. Temporary storage requirements vary from a small constant for nearly sorted input arrays to n/2 object references for randomly ordered input arrays.

The implementation takes equal advantage of ascending and descending order in its input array, and can take advantage of ascending and descending order in different parts of the the same input array. It is well-suited to merging two or more sorted arrays: simply concatenate the arrays and sort the resulting array.

The implementation was adapted from Tim Peters's list sort for Python ( TimSort). It uses techiques from Peter McIlroy's "Optimistic Sorting and Information Theoretic Complexity", in Proceedings of the Fourth Annual ACM-SIAM Symposium on Discrete Algorithms, pp 467-474, January 1993.

 public static String toString(long[] a) 
{
        if (a == null)
            return "null";
        int iMax = a.length - 1;
        if (iMax == -1)
            return "[]";
        StringBuilder b = new StringBuilder();
        b.append('[');
        for (int i = 0; ; i++) {
            b.append(a[i]);
            if (i == iMax)
                return b.append(']').toString();
            b.append(", ");
        }
}

Returns a string representation of the contents of the specified array. The string representation consists of a list of the array's elements, enclosed in square brackets ("[]"). Adjacent elements are separated by the characters ", " (a comma followed by a space). Elements are converted to strings as by String.valueOf(long). Returns "null" if a is null.

 public static String toString(int[] a) 
{
        if (a == null)
            return "null";
        int iMax = a.length - 1;
        if (iMax == -1)
            return "[]";
        StringBuilder b = new StringBuilder();
        b.append('[');
        for (int i = 0; ; i++) {
            b.append(a[i]);
            if (i == iMax)
                return b.append(']').toString();
            b.append(", ");
        }
}

Returns a string representation of the contents of the specified array. The string representation consists of a list of the array's elements, enclosed in square brackets ("[]"). Adjacent elements are separated by the characters ", " (a comma followed by a space). Elements are converted to strings as by String.valueOf(int). Returns "null" if a is null.

 public static String toString(short[] a) 
{
        if (a == null)
            return "null";
        int iMax = a.length - 1;
        if (iMax == -1)
            return "[]";
        StringBuilder b = new StringBuilder();
        b.append('[');
        for (int i = 0; ; i++) {
            b.append(a[i]);
            if (i == iMax)
                return b.append(']').toString();
            b.append(", ");
        }
}

Returns a string representation of the contents of the specified array. The string representation consists of a list of the array's elements, enclosed in square brackets ("[]"). Adjacent elements are separated by the characters ", " (a comma followed by a space). Elements are converted to strings as by String.valueOf(short). Returns "null" if a is null.

 public static String toString(char[] a) 
{
        if (a == null)
            return "null";
        int iMax = a.length - 1;
        if (iMax == -1)
            return "[]";
        StringBuilder b = new StringBuilder();
        b.append('[');
        for (int i = 0; ; i++) {
            b.append(a[i]);
            if (i == iMax)
                return b.append(']').toString();
            b.append(", ");
        }
}

Returns a string representation of the contents of the specified array. The string representation consists of a list of the array's elements, enclosed in square brackets ("[]"). Adjacent elements are separated by the characters ", " (a comma followed by a space). Elements are converted to strings as by String.valueOf(char). Returns "null" if a is null.

 public static String toString(byte[] a) 
{
        if (a == null)
            return "null";
        int iMax = a.length - 1;
        if (iMax == -1)
            return "[]";
        StringBuilder b = new StringBuilder();
        b.append('[');
        for (int i = 0; ; i++) {
            b.append(a[i]);
            if (i == iMax)
                return b.append(']').toString();
            b.append(", ");
        }
}

Returns a string representation of the contents of the specified array. The string representation consists of a list of the array's elements, enclosed in square brackets ("[]"). Adjacent elements are separated by the characters ", " (a comma followed by a space). Elements are converted to strings as by String.valueOf(byte). Returns "null" if a is null.

 public static String toString(boolean[] a) 
{
        if (a == null)
            return "null";
        int iMax = a.length - 1;
        if (iMax == -1)
            return "[]";
        StringBuilder b = new StringBuilder();
        b.append('[');
        for (int i = 0; ; i++) {
            b.append(a[i]);
            if (i == iMax)
                return b.append(']').toString();
            b.append(", ");
        }
}

Returns a string representation of the contents of the specified array. The string representation consists of a list of the array's elements, enclosed in square brackets ("[]"). Adjacent elements are separated by the characters ", " (a comma followed by a space). Elements are converted to strings as by String.valueOf(boolean). Returns "null" if a is null.

 public static String toString(float[] a) 
{
        if (a == null)
            return "null";
        int iMax = a.length - 1;
        if (iMax == -1)
            return "[]";
        StringBuilder b = new StringBuilder();
        b.append('[');
        for (int i = 0; ; i++) {
            b.append(a[i]);
            if (i == iMax)
                return b.append(']').toString();
            b.append(", ");
        }
}

Returns a string representation of the contents of the specified array. The string representation consists of a list of the array's elements, enclosed in square brackets ("[]"). Adjacent elements are separated by the characters ", " (a comma followed by a space). Elements are converted to strings as by String.valueOf(float). Returns "null" if a is null.

 public static String toString(double[] a) 
{
        if (a == null)
            return "null";
        int iMax = a.length - 1;
        if (iMax == -1)
            return "[]";
        StringBuilder b = new StringBuilder();
        b.append('[');
        for (int i = 0; ; i++) {
            b.append(a[i]);
            if (i == iMax)
                return b.append(']').toString();
            b.append(", ");
        }
}

Returns a string representation of the contents of the specified array. The string representation consists of a list of the array's elements, enclosed in square brackets ("[]"). Adjacent elements are separated by the characters ", " (a comma followed by a space). Elements are converted to strings as by String.valueOf(double). Returns "null" if a is null.

 public static String toString(Object[] a) 
{
        if (a == null)
            return "null";
        int iMax = a.length - 1;
        if (iMax == -1)
            return "[]";
        StringBuilder b = new StringBuilder();
        b.append('[');
        for (int i = 0; ; i++) {
            b.append(String.valueOf(a[i]));
            if (i == iMax)
                return b.append(']').toString();
            b.append(", ");
        }
}

Returns a string representation of the contents of the specified array. If the array contains other arrays as elements, they are converted to strings by the Object#toString method inherited from Object, which describes their identities rather than their contents.

The value returned by this method is equal to the value that would be returned by Arrays.asList(a).toString(), unless a is null, in which case "null" is returned.