Implementation of add element method to linked list in java

Question

So this is the code

void add(String data) {
    Link newLink = new Link(data);
    newLink.next = firstLink;
    firstLink = newLink;
}

If we have only one element firstLink.next will point itself i.e firsLink (because of newLink.next = firstLink;) so it will be not null. and if we have print method like this:

void print() {
    Link currentLink = firstLink;
    while (currentLink != null) {
        System.out.println(currentLink.data);
        currentLink = currentLink.next;
    }
}

this should be a infinite loop, but in fact its not true when I start it in eclipse. My question is why ?

azurefrog · Accepted Answer · 2014-10-11 19:38:38Z

1

If you have only one element, then firstLink was null when you added that first element.

That means that your add() method goes like this:

void add(String data) {
    Link newLink = new Link(data);    // create new link
    newLink.next = firstLink;         // set newLink.next = null
    firstLink = newLink;              // make newLink the first link
}

answered Oct 11, 2014 at 19:38

azurefrog

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m32rober · Accepted Answer · 2014-10-11 19:40:02Z

1

If firstLink is initialized to null at the start of the program, then the first call to add(data) will set firstLink to a new Link who's next is null.

answered Oct 11, 2014 at 19:40

m32rober

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