java collection that has key/value pair, and is ordered according to insert order

Question

I want something where I can insert key/value pairs, and the order is the order that I insert the items in.

I have seen some posts regarding map's, but it seems I have to write my own comparator for them.

I want the first item I insert to be the first stored, and the 2nd be the 2nd item in the collection ,etc.

Answer 1

Try using a LinkedHashMap, from the javadocs:

Hash table and linked list implementation of the Map interface, with predictable iteration order This implementation differs from HashMap in that it maintains a doubly-linked list running through all of its entries. This linked list defines the iteration ordering, which is normally the order in which keys were inserted into the map (insertion-order).

Answer 2

Why not just create a class to contain a key and a value, and then store them in your favourite List implementation?

class Pair {
    Key k;
    Value v;
}

List<Pair> stuff = new ArrayList<Pair>();

Pair p = new Pair();
...
stuff.add(p);