public class PatriciaSET extends Object implements Iterable<String>
PatriciaSET
class provides an implementation of an
unordered set, with the restriction that the items (keys) are of class
String
. It supports the usual add,
contains, delete, size, and is-empty
methods. It also provides an iterator method for iterating over all
the elements in the set.
This unordered set class implements PATRICIA (Practical Algorithm to Retrieve Information Coded In Alphanumeric). In spite of the acronym, string keys are not limited to alphanumeric content. A key may possess any string value, with one exception: a zero-length string is not permitted.
Unlike other generic set implementations that can accept a parameterized key
type, this set class can only accommodate keys of class
String
. This unfortunate restriction stems from a
limitation in Java. Although Java provides excellent support for generic
programming, the current infrastructure somewhat limits generic collection
implementations to those that employ comparison-based or hash-based methods.
PATRICIA does not employ comparisons or hashing; instead, it relies on
bit-test operations. Because Java does not furnish any generic abstractions
(or implementations) for bit-testing the contents of an object, providing
support for generic keys using PATRICIA does not seem practical.
PATRICIA is a variation of a trie, and it is often classified as a space-optimized trie. In a classical trie, each level represents a subsequent digit in a key. In PATRICIA, nodes only exist to identify the digits (bits) that distinguish the individual keys within the trie. Because PATRICIA uses a radix of two, each node has only two children, like a binary tree. Also like a binary tree, the number of nodes, within the trie, equals the number of keys. Consequently, some classify PATRICIA as a tree.
The analysis of PATRICIA is complicated. The theoretical wost-case performance for an add, contains, or delete operation is O(N), when N is less than W (where W is the length in bits of the longest key), and O(W), when N is greater than W. However, the worst case is unlikely to occur with typical use. The average (and usual) performance of PATRICIA is approximately ~lg N for each add, contains, or delete operation. Although this appears to put PATRICIA on the same footing as binary trees, this time complexity represents the number of single-bit test operations (under PATRICIA), and not full-key comparisons (as required by binary trees). After the single-bit tests conclude, PATRICIA requires just one full-key comparison to confirm the existence (or absence) of the key (per add, contains, or delete operation).
In practice, decent implementations of PATRICIA can often outperform balanced binary trees, and even hash tables. Although this particular implementation performs well, the source code was written with an emphasis on clarity, and not performance. PATRICIA performs admirably when its bit-testing loops are well tuned. Consider using the source code as a guide, should you need to produce an optimized implementation, for another key type, or in another programming language.
Other resources for PATRICIA:
Sedgewick, R. (1990) Algorithms in C, Addison-Wesley
Knuth, D. (1973) The Art of Computer Programming, Addison-Wesley
Constructor and Description |
---|
PatriciaSET()
Initializes an empty PATRICIA-based set.
|
Modifier and Type | Method and Description |
---|---|
void |
add(String key)
Adds the key to the set if it is not already present.
|
boolean |
contains(String key)
Does the set contain the given key?
|
void |
delete(String key)
Removes the key from the set if the key is present.
|
Iterator<String> |
iterator()
Returns all of the keys in the set, as an iterator.
|
static void |
main(String[] args)
Unit tests the
PatriciaSET data type. |
String |
toString()
Returns a string representation of this set.
|
clone, equals, finalize, getClass, hashCode, notify, notifyAll, wait, wait, wait
forEach, spliterator
public void add(String key)
key
- the key to addIllegalArgumentException
- if key
is null
IllegalArgumentException
- if key
is the empty string.public boolean contains(String key)
key
- the keytrue
if the set contains key
and
false
otherwiseIllegalArgumentException
- if key
is null
IllegalArgumentException
- if key
is the empty string.public void delete(String key)
key
- the keyIllegalArgumentException
- if key
is null
IllegalArgumentException
- if key
is the empty string.public Iterator<String> iterator()
set
, use the
foreach notation: for (Key key : set)
.public String toString()
public static void main(String[] args)
PatriciaSET
data type.
This test fixture runs a series of tests on a randomly generated dataset.
You may specify up to two integer parameters on the command line. The
first parameter indicates the size of the dataset. The second parameter
controls the number of passes (a new random dataset becomes generated at
the start of each pass).args
- the command-line arguments