What is the difference between Iterable and Iterator interfaces?

The Iterable and Iterator interfaces in Java are related to iterating over collections but serve different roles:

• Iterable is an interface implemented by a collection or any object that supports element traversal. It contains a single method iterator(), which returns an Iterator object. This allows the use of a for-each loop to iterate over elements.

• Iterator is an interface that provides methods for sequential access to collection elements: hasNext() to check if there is a next element, and next() to retrieve that element. There is also a remove() method to delete the current element.

Example:

Iterable<String> iterable = List.of("a", "b", "c");
Iterator<String> iterator = iterable.iterator();
while (iterator.hasNext()) {
    String element = iterator.next();
    System.out.println(element);
}

In summary:

• Iterable is the source of an iterator, allowing you to obtain an Iterator.
• Iterator is the mechanism itself for traversing collection elements.