fail-safe iterator

Question

CopyOnWriteArrayList produce fail-safe iterator because everytime the "structure is modified" , the modification mean a new array is produced. the iterator iterate over the old copy of array? So, fail-safe mean it is safe from failing?

Answer 1

Read this post for better explanation http://www.journaldev.com/378/how-to-avoid-concurrentmodificationexception-when-using-an-iterator

Answer 2

see comparision and explanation at http://www.certpal.com/blogs/2009/09/iterators-fail-fast-vs-fail-safe/