Difference between container and wrapper

containers wrapper
Ank picture Ank · Nov 2, 2012 · Viewed 7.4k times · Source

In a programming language (e.g. Java), what's the difference between container and wrapper (or is there a difference). I've heard both the terms used vaguely.

Answer

enrico.bacis picture enrico.bacis · Nov 2, 2012

In programming languages the word container is generally used for structures that can contain more than one element, for example a Map, a Set or a List. These structures normally provide methods like contains, that are semantically suitable if the object can contain more than one item.

A wrapper instead is something that wraps around a single object to provide more functionalities and interfaces to it. The typical example is the Integer class that in Java wraps the base type int.

Related questions

How is Docker different from a virtual machine?

I keep rereading the Docker documentation to try to understand the difference between Docker and a full VM. How does it manage to provide a full filesystem, isolated networking environment, etc. without being as heavy? Why is deploying software to …

Read More
How to run a cron job inside a docker container?

I am trying to run a cronjob inside a docker container that invokes a shell script. Yesterday I have been searching all over the web and stack overflow, but I could not really find a solution that works. How can …

Read More
How to change the size of the font of a JLabel to take the maximum size

I have a JLabel in a Container. The defaut size of the font is very small. I would like that the text of the JLabel to take the maximum size. How can I do that?

Read More