I would use a NavigableMap
public class RandomCollection<E> {
private final NavigableMap<Double, E> map = new TreeMap<Double, E>();
private final Random random;
private double total = 0;
public RandomCollection() {
this(new Random());
}
public RandomCollection(Random random) {
this.random = random;
}
public RandomCollection<E> add(double weight, E result) {
if (weight <= 0) return this;
total += weight;
map.put(total, result);
return this;
}
public E next() {
double value = random.nextDouble() * total;
return map.higherEntry(value).getValue();
}
}
Say I have a list of animals dog, cat, horse with probabilities as 40%, 35%, 25% respectively
RandomCollection<String> rc = new RandomCollection<>()
.add(40, "dog").add(35, "cat").add(25, "horse");
for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
System.out.println(rc.next());
}