Can you explain the principle of operation of the SortedMap interface and how it differs from a regular Map?

The SortedMap interface in Java extends the regular Map and guarantees that the elements will be stored in sorted order by keys. Main differences:

• Order of elements: In SortedMap, keys are ordered either by their natural ordering (if the keys implement Comparable) or by a specified comparator.
• Additional methods: SortedMap provides methods for obtaining sub-maps, such as subMap(), headMap(), tailMap(), as well as methods for accessing the first and last keys (firstKey(), lastKey()).

Example of using SortedMap:

import java.util.SortedMap;
import java.util.TreeMap;

public class SortedMapExample {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        SortedMap<Integer, String> map = new TreeMap<>();
        map.put(3, "Three");
        map.put(1, "One");
        map.put(2, "Two");

        // Keys will be sorted: 1, 2, 3
        for (Integer key : map.keySet()) {
            System.out.println(key + " -> " + map.get(key));
        }
    }
}

Unlike a regular Map (for example, HashMap), where the order of elements is not guaranteed, SortedMap ensures key ordering.