Order to importing?

Ok, someone can correct me if I am wrong. But, this is how I see things. Hope it helps!

Yes it is just personal preference. Order of imports doesn't matter. Import basically means "Later in my code when I say 'List' I am referring to this library 'java.util.List'. So ordering does NOT matter.

import java.util.*;

Will also work. The * character basically means "Import all libraries that start with 'import.java.util'. Most compilers will automatically include these libraries. However, it is good practice to import each individual library so when you have an error because of a missing library you will know how to fix this error.

Why does the program still work? ONLY THE CODE IN MAIN IS COMPILED AND EXECUTED LINE-BY-LINE. If you declare a List object within main. It will search for the List class and compile the necessary code.

List myList = new ArrayList();

In English: "Look for object 'List'." "Ok, 'List' was imported earlier with 'import java.util.List;'." "Create an object of type 'List' and call that object 'myList'." Now the List object constructer initiates. "Assign this object a new ArrayList type." The constructor searches for ArrayList and it is found because it was imported earlier in the code. When the compiler finds this object it knows, "Ok, this ArrayList object is a subclass of the object List" Now polymorphism magic happens that I won't discuss.

Alphabetic order is a good practice because someone else working on your code can easily see what libraries you are using. If you ever take algorithms you will learn searching is done quicker with an alphabetized list for both machines and humans.

TL;DR So you see, since the only code that is actually executed line-by-line is within the main. Import order does not matter. It is just a reference of "Hey, this code is here. Just letting you know incase we need it."