There are several options:
2 dimensions
Map of maps
Map<Integer, Map<Integer, V>> map = //...
//...
map.get(2).get(5);
Wrapper key object
public class Key {
private final int x;
private final int y;
public Key(int x, int y) {
this.x = x;
this.y = y;
}
@Override
public boolean equals(Object o) {
if (this == o) return true;
if (!(o instanceof Key)) return false;
Key key = (Key) o;
return x == key.x && y == key.y;
}
@Override
public int hashCode() {
int result = x;
result = 31 * result + y;
return result;
}
}
Implementing equals()
and hashCode()
is crucial here. Then you simply use:
Map<Key, V> map = //...
and:
map.get(new Key(2, 5));
Table
from Guava
Table<Integer, Integer, V> table = HashBasedTable.create();
//...
table.get(2, 5);
Table
uses map of maps underneath.
N dimensions
Notice that special Key
class is the only approach that scales to n-dimensions. You might also consider:
Map<List<Integer>, V> map = //...
but that’s terrible from performance perspective, as well as readability and correctness (no easy way to enforce list size).
Maybe take a look at Scala where you have tuples and case
classes (replacing whole Key
class with one-liner).