AP® Computer Science A glossary

Traversal

Also called: traversing

Course: AP® Computer Science A Shows up in: Unit 4: Data Collections

Using repetition (or recursion) to access all elements of an array or ArrayList, or an ordered sequence of them.

Appears in the course and exam description (CED): 4.4.A.14.4.A.24.9.A.14.9.A.2

A traversal can go forward, backward, every other element or over part of the collection. Indexed loops can change elements; removing from an ArrayList during a traversal needs care so no element is skipped.

int[] steps = {3, 5, 8};
for (int i = steps.length - 1; i >= 0; i--)
{
    System.out.print(steps[i] + " ");
}
System.out.println();

Output:

8 5 3 

Related terms

• Enhanced for loop
• Array
• ArrayList
• for loop
• while loop
• Recursion