List = empty

Question

hi . i'm doing a LinkedList program.
i donno how to do
if an empty list then
set both first and last to reference the newly constructed node
else
construct a new node at the end of the list
what is "set both first and last to reference the newly constructed node"
can anyone please help me out.
thanks!.

Answer 1

for the situation if the list is empty,
should i use both if last == null && first ==null?
or can i just use either oneYou mean to test whether the list is empty?
Well, that depends on the details of how you implement your list. Will there ever be a case where there will be elements in the list, but only one of the two (first, last) will be set? If this could happen, then you need to test both. If it's always both null or neither null then you can just test one.