Java Collection Interface
The Collection interface is the foundation upon which the collections framework is built. It declares the core methods that all collections will have.
A collections framework is a unified architecture for representing and manipulating collections. All collections frameworks contain the following :
Interfaces − These are abstract data types that represent collections. Interfaces allow collections to be manipulated independently of the details of their representation. In object-oriented languages, interfaces generally form a hierarchy.
Implementations, i.e., Classes − These are the concrete implementations of the collection interfaces. In essence, they are reusable data structures.
Algorithms − These are the methods that perform useful computations, such as searching and sorting, on objects that implement collection interfaces. The algorithms are said to be polymorphic: that is, the same method can be used on many different implementations of the appropriate collection interface.
In addition to collections, the framework defines several map interfaces and classes. Maps store key/value pairs. Although maps are not collections in the proper use of the term, but they are fully integrated with collections.