This example will show how to initialize a java Map using core java and guava techniques.
Straight up Java
This snippet will show a standard way to initialize a empty HashMap JDK 5.0 and above.
Diamond operator
Java 7 introduced the diamond operator which reduces java's verbosity on having to specify a generic type. The compiler will infer the parameter type based on the constructor's generic class. The snippet below will show how to initialize a Map using the diamond operator.
Google Guava
Guava Maps.newHashMap will initialize and fill a Hashmap with elements if specified.
Apache Commons
If you are looking to initialize an empty map this is an approach to take when using apache commons.