LazyStringList

All Superinterfaces:

java.util.Collection<java.lang.String>, java.lang.Iterable<java.lang.String>, java.util.List<java.lang.String>

All Known Implementing Classes:

LazyStringArrayList, UnmodifiableLazyStringList
```
public interface LazyStringList
extends java.util.List<java.lang.String>
```
An interface extending List<String> that also provides access to the items of the list as UTF8-encoded ByteString objects. This is used by the protocol buffer implementation to support lazily converting bytes parsed over the wire to String objects until needed and also increases the efficiency of serialization if the String was never requested as the ByteString is already cached.
This only adds additional methods that are required for the use in the protocol buffer code in order to be able successfully round trip byte arrays through parsing and serialization without conversion to strings. It's not attempting to support the functionality of say List<ByteString>, hence why only these two very specific methods are added.

Method Summary

All Methods Instance Methods Abstract Methods
Modifier and Type	Method	Description
`void`	`add(ByteString element)`	Appends the specified element to the end of this list (optional operation).
`ByteString`	`getByteString(int index)`	Returns the element at the specified position in this list as a ByteString.
`java.util.List<?>`	`getUnderlyingElements()`	Returns an unmodifiable List of the underlying elements, each of which is either a `String` or its equivalent UTF-8 encoded `ByteString`.

Methods inherited from interface java.util.Collection
parallelStream, removeIf, stream, toArray

Methods inherited from interface java.lang.Iterable
forEach

Methods inherited from interface java.util.List
add, add, addAll, addAll, clear, contains, containsAll, equals, get, hashCode, indexOf, isEmpty, iterator, lastIndexOf, listIterator, listIterator, remove, remove, removeAll, replaceAll, retainAll, set, size, sort, spliterator, subList, toArray, toArray

- Method Detail
  - getByteString
```
ByteString getByteString(int index)
```
    Returns the element at the specified position in this list as a ByteString.
    
    Parameters:
    
    index - index of the element to return
    
    Returns:
    
    the element at the specified position in this list
    
    Throws:
    
    java.lang.IndexOutOfBoundsException - if the index is out of range (index < 0 || index >= size())
  - add
```
void add(ByteString element)
```
    Appends the specified element to the end of this list (optional operation).
    
    Parameters:
    
    element - element to be appended to this list
    
    Throws:
    
    java.lang.UnsupportedOperationException - if the add operation is not supported by this list
  - getUnderlyingElements
```
java.util.List<?> getUnderlyingElements()
```
    Returns an unmodifiable List of the underlying elements, each of which is either a String or its equivalent UTF-8 encoded ByteString. It is an error for the caller to modify the returned List, and attempting to do so will result in an UnsupportedOperationException.