Java DeepCopy via Serialization

Sometimes you need a way to make a deepcopy of all your objects. May be not the fastest :-). You have to ensure, that all of your objects are serializeable.

Fast ArrayList or HashMap initialisation

Everyone knows how to initialize String Arrays.
But how can we do this with ArrayLists or with HashMaps?

static generic factory methods

How to write a static but generic factory method in java?