What differences exist between HashMap and Hashtable ?
3 years ago
OOP Java
Both the HashMap and Hashtable classes implement the Map interface and thus, have very similar characteristics. However, they differ in the following features:
- A HashMap allows the existence of null keys and values, while a Hashtable doesn’t allow neither null keys, nor null values.
- A Hashtable is synchronized, while a HashMap is not. Thus, HashMap is preferred in single-threaded environments, while a Hashtable is suitable for multi-threaded environments.
- A HashMap provides its set of keys and a Java application can iterate over them. Thus, a HashMap is fail-fast. On the other hand, a Hashtable provides an Enumeration of its keys.
- The Hashtable class is considered to be a legacy class.
Surya Bikram Bhandari
Oct 31, 2021