question: int maxLength ( ) { FontMetrics fm = getFontMetrics ( getFont ( ) ) ; int m = 0 ; int end = items . size ( ) ; for ( int i = 0 ; i < end ; i ++ ) { int l = fm . stringWidth ( ( ( String ) items . elementAt ( i ) ) ) ; m = Math . max ( m , l ) ; } return m ; }
target:  return the length of the largest item in the list