Should I use put() or putIfAbsent() after using getOrDefault()?

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Java8 introduced those nice methods getOrDefault() and putIfAbsent(), allowing to write code like:

Map<Foo, List<Bar>> itemsByFoo = ...
List<Bar> bars = itemsByFoo.getOrDefault(key, new ArrayList<>());
bars.add(someNewBar);

Now I am wondering if there are good factual reasons to either do:

itemsByFoo.put(key, bars);

or

itemsByFoo.putIfAbsent(key, bars);

Both would work:

  • option 1 might do a lot of unnecessary "put" calls when adding elements to lists happens often
  • option2 might do a lot of unnecessary "containsKey" calls when adding new entries for new keys is dominant

SO: are the good reasons to go for option 1 or option 2 "always"?

2 Answers
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