看jdk源码，看到 LinkedHashSet时，说底层调用的LinkedHashMap进行存放数据，点入LinkedHashSet的add方法看了一下，看到如下代码：
/** * Adds the specified element to this set if it is not already present. * More formally, adds the specified element <tt>e</tt> to this set if * this set contains no element <tt>e2</tt> such that * <tt>(e==null ? e2==null : e.equals(e2))</tt>. * If this set already contains the element, the call leaves the set * unchanged and returns <tt>false</tt>. * * @param e element to be added to this set * @return <tt>true</tt> if this set did not already contain the specified * element */ public boolean add(E e) { return map.put(e, PRESENT)==null; }其中的PRESENT 为类的一个私有Object对象。
private static final Object PRESENT = new Object();这就很值得研究一下，为什么add()方法中，存入的value不是null？正常来说，存入null的效率和空间占用是否会更好一点？
继续往下看，看map.put（）方法的实现：
/** * Associates the specified value with the specified key in this map. * If the map previously contained a mapping for the key, the old * value is replaced. * * @param key key with which the specified value is to be associated * @param value value to be associated with the specified key * @return the previous value associated with <tt>key</tt>, or * <tt>null</tt> if there was no mapping for <tt>key</tt>. * (A <tt>null</tt> return can also indicate that the map * previously associated <tt>null</tt> with <tt>key</tt>.) */ public V put(K key, V value) { return putVal(hash(key), key, value, false, true); }putval()方法如下：
/** * Implements Map.put and related methods * * @param hash hash for key * @param key the key * @param value the value to put * @param onlyIfAbsent if true, don't change existing value * @param evict if false, the table is in creation mode. * @return previous value, or null if none */ final V putVal(int hash, K key, V value, boolean onlyIfAbsent, boolean evict) { Node<K,V>[] tab; Node<K,V> p; int n, i; if ((tab = table) == null || (n = tab.length) == 0) n = (tab = resize()).length; if ((p = tab[i = (n - 1) & hash]) == null) tab[i] = newNode(hash, key, value, null); else { Node<K,V> e; K k; if (p.hash == hash && ((k = p.key) == key || (key != null && key.equals(k)))) e = p; else if (p instanceof TreeNode) e = ((TreeNode<K,V>)p).putTreeVal(this, tab, hash, key, value); else { for (int binCount = 0; ; ++binCount) { if ((e = p.next) == null) { p.next = newNode(hash, key, value, null); if (binCount >= TREEIFY_THRESHOLD - 1) // -1 for 1st treeifyBin(tab, hash); break; } if (e.hash == hash && ((k = e.key) == key || (key != null && key.equals(k)))) break; p = e; } } if (e != null) { // existing mapping for key V oldValue = e.value; if (!onlyIfAbsent || oldValue == null) e.value = value; afterNodeAccess(e); return oldValue; } } ++modCount; if (++size > threshold) resize(); afterNodeInsertion(evict); return null; }实现不需要仔细看，先看他的关于return的注释：
* @return previous value, or null if none意思就是，返回当前值，如果值不存在，为第一次添加该key的话，返回null。
所以，如果前边add时，添加的value为null，那返回的话，就不能区分时第一次添加返回的空值null，还是重复添加时，返回的已有值，只是这个值为null，但是，添加的如果是一个Object，就可以避免这个问题了。
源码的每一步实现，都是有道理的。
