What is the point of the Map.Entry parameter to LinkedHashMap#removeEldestEntry?

Question

The documentation describes this method using the following example:

private static final int MAX_ENTRIES = 100;

protected boolean removeEldestEntry(Map.Entry eldest) {
   return size() > MAX_ENTRIES;
}

In this example, the method does not use the parameter, eldest. What is the point of this parameter to LinkedHashMap#removeEldestEntry?

Answer 1

The code you quote is just an example of how to override that method. The actual implementation is:

protected boolean removeEldestEntry(Map.Entry<K,V> eldest) {
    return false;
}

It is meant to be overridden, and some implementations can examine the eldest entry to decide whether or not it should be removed.