Java: Preferences API vs. Apache Commons Configuration?

Given your example of storing a set of values associated with a key you would seem to have the following options when using each library Preferences - store as a byte array associated with the key Commons Configuration - store as a list of strings associated with a key So the choice could come down to whether it is easier to convert a FooBean into a byte array or a String. The other advantage of Commons Configuration is the different backends. I have used it to store properties in a database.

If you want to store the objects somewhere other than the users local machine it would be the better choice.

I would normally go with Preferences API which is part of JDK unless there are issues which are otherwise solved by commons-config. Personally when I use spring it has a Property Configurer which does most of these for me.

Commons Configuration is not suited for storing complex objects structures. You'd better use a serialization framework.

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