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According to the Java API \[java:[API 2006|AA. References#API 06]\], interface {{Enumeration}} documentation,

An object that implements the Enumeration interface generates a series of elements, one at a time. Successive calls to the nextElement method return successive elements of the series.

As an example, an Enumeration is used below in the following code to display the contents of a Vector.

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Unfortunately, a {{Vector}} and an {{Enumeration}} may not always work well together. In fact, the Java API \[java:[API 2006|AA. References#API 06]\] recommends, "New implementations should consider using {{Iterator}} in preference to {{Enumeration}}." 

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This noncompliant code example implements a BankOperations class with a removeAccounts() method used to terminate all the accounts of a particular account holder, as identified by the name. Names can be repeated in the vector if a person has more than one account. The remove() method attempts to iterate through all the vector entries comparing each entry with the name "Harry." .

class BankOperations {
  private static void removeAccounts(Vector v, String name) {
    Enumeration e = v.elements();
		 
    while (e.hasMoreElements()) {
      String s = (String) e.nextElement();
      if (s.equals(name)) {
        v.remove("Harry"); // Second Harry is not removed
      }
    }

    // Display current account holders
    System.out.println("The names are:");
    e = v.elements();
    while (e.hasMoreElements()) {
      System.out.println(e.nextElement());  // Prints Dick, Harry, Tom	  
    }
  }
	 
  public static void main(String args[]) { 
    // List contains a sorted array of account holder names
    // Repeats are admissible 
    List list = new ArrayList(Arrays.asList(
      new String[] {"Dick", "Harry", "Harry", "Tom"}));
    Vector v = new Vector(list);
    removeAccount(v, "Harry"); 
  }
}

Upon encountering the first "Harry," , it successfully removes the entry, and the size of the vector diminishes to three. However, the index of the Enumeration does not decrease by one1, causing the program to use "Tom" for the next (now final) comparison. As a result, the second "Harry" continues to remain remains in the vector unscathed, having shifted to the second position in the vector.

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According to the Java API \[java:[API 2006|AA. References#API 06]\], interface {{Iterator}} documentation,

Iterator takes the place of Enumeration in the Java collections framework. Iterators differ from enumerations in two ways:

• Iterators allow the caller to remove elements from the underlying collection during the iteration with well-defined semantics.
• Method names have been improved.

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class BankOperations {
  private static void removeAccounts(Vector v, String name) {
    Iterator i = v.iterator();
	 
    while (i.hasNext()) {
      String s = (String) i.next();
      if (s.equals(name)) {
        i.remove(); // Correctly removes all instances of the name Harry
      }
    }

    // Display current account holders
    System.out.println("The names are:");
    i = v.iterator();
    while (i.hasNext()) {
      System.out.println(i.next()); // Prints Dick, Tom only	 
    }
  }
	 
  public static void main(String args[]) {
    List list = new ArrayList(Arrays.asList(
      new String[] {"Dick", "Harry", "Harry", "Tom"}));
    Vector v = new Vector(list);
    remove(v, "Harry"); 
  }
}

Risk Assessment

Using Enumerations Enumeration when performing remove operations on a vector may cause unexpected program behavior.

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The Coverity Prevent Version 5.0 ITERATOR checker can detect the instance where next() or previous() on an iterator is called that may not have a next or previous element.

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Bibliography

\[java:[API 2006|AA. References#API 06]\] Interfaces: Enumeration and Iterator
\[java:[Daconta 2003|AA. References#Daconta 03]\] Item 21: Use Iteration over Enumeration

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      49. Miscellaneous (MSC)