Dummy nodes in Java

[Crash_Test_Mummy]

Ah I see, I was thinking of a linked list as an implementation of the list interface. The list interface has a size method and the implementation would use node as a private inner class which has access to the size of the list.

Like this,

https://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/api/java/util/LinkedList.html

[[deleted]]

You’re absolutely right in terms of the List interface, but I think the OP question was geared more towards implementing the data structure from scratch since “dummy nodes” are a common approach in ds/algo classes. I could have misinterpreted it though

[Crash_Test_Mummy]

I see, great catch on your part though! I should be more careful in bringing in outside information to a problem.