When should you prefer CopyOnWriteArrayList and when should you avoid it?

CopyOnWriteArrayList is a thread-safe variant of ArrayList that is particularly useful in certain scenarios. It's best used when reads vastly outnumber writes, as it creates a new copy of the underlying array whenever a write operation occurs, making reads non-blocking and faster. This makes it suitable for situations where you need a high level of concurrency.

However, you should avoid using CopyOnWriteArrayList in scenarios where there are frequent write operations, as the overhead of copying the array can lead to performance degradation. It is also not suitable for large data sets where memory overhead is a concern.

Keywords: CopyOnWriteArrayList, thread-safe, ArrayList, concurrency, read operations, write operations, performance

Description: Explore the scenarios for using and avoiding CopyOnWriteArrayList, a thread-safe list holding considerable advantages in read-heavy applications.


        // Example usage of CopyOnWriteArrayList in Java
        import java.util.concurrent.CopyOnWriteArrayList;

        public class Example {
            public static void main(String[] args) {
                CopyOnWriteArrayList list = new CopyOnWriteArrayList<>();

                // Adding elements
                list.add("A");
                list.add("B");
                list.add("C");

                // Reading elements concurrently
                for (String item : list) {
                    System.out.println(item);
                }

                // Writing elements
                list.add("D");
                System.out.println("After adding D: " + list);
            }
        }

When should you prefer CopyOnWriteArrayList and when should you avoid it?

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When should you prefer CopyOnWriteArrayList and when should you avoid it?

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