What are the main differences between Set and List collections?

Main differences:

• Order:
  • Set does not guarantee order of elements.
  • List preserves insertion order and allows access by index.
• Uniqueness:
  • Set contains only unique elements. Duplicates are not allowed.
  • List can contain duplicates.
• Access by index:
  • In List, elements are accessible by numeric index.
  • In Set, there is no direct access by index.

Use cases:

• Set is suitable when uniqueness of elements is important, e.g., for storing a set of unique identifiers.
• List is suitable when order and index-based access are important, e.g., for storing a sequence of data.

Comparison table:

Characteristic	Set	List
Order	Not guaranteed	Preserves insertion order
Uniqueness	Only unique elements	Can contain duplicates
Access by index	No	Yes (by numeric index)