Additionally, if you want to create a list that has things in it (though it will be fixed size):

List<String> messages = Arrays.asList("Hello", "World!", "How", "Are", "You");

Let me summarize and add something:

JDK

1. new ArrayList<String>();
2. Arrays.asList("A", "B", "C")

Guava

1. Lists.newArrayList("Mike", "John", "Lesly");
2. Lists.asList("A","B", new String [] {"C", "D"});

Immutable List

1. Collections.unmodifiableList(new ArrayList<String>(Arrays.asList("A","B")));
2. ImmutableList.builder()                                      // Guava
            .add("A")
            .add("B").build();
3. ImmutableList.of("A", "B");                                  // Guava
4. ImmutableList.copyOf(Lists.newArrayList("A", "B", "C"));     // Guava

Empty immutable List

1. Collections.emptyList();
2. Collections.EMPTY_LIST;

List of Characters

1. Lists.charactersOf("String")                                 // Guava
2. Lists.newArrayList(Splitter.fixedLength(1).split("String"))  // Guava

List of Integers

Ints.asList(1,2,3);                                             // Guava

In Java 8

To create a non-empty list of fixed size (operations like add, remove, etc., are not supported):

List<Integer> list = Arrays.asList(1, 2); // but, list.set(...) is supported

To create a non-empty mutable list:

List<Integer> list = new ArrayList<>(Arrays.asList(3, 4));

In Java 9

Using a new List.of(...) static factory methods:

List<Integer> immutableList = List.of(1, 2);

List<Integer> mutableList = new ArrayList<>(List.of(3, 4));

In Java 10

Using the Local Variable Type Inference:

var list1 = List.of(1, 2);

var list2 = new ArrayList<>(List.of(3, 4));

var list3 = new ArrayList<String>();

And follow best practices...

Don't use raw types

Since Java 5, generics have been a part of the language - you should use them:

List<String> list = new ArrayList<>(); // Good, List of String

List list = new ArrayList(); // Bad, don't do that!

Program to interfaces

For example, program to the List interface:

List<Double> list = new ArrayList<>();

Instead of:

ArrayList<Double> list = new ArrayList<>(); // This is a bad idea!

First read this, then read this and this. 9 times out of 10 you'll use one of those two implementations.

In fact, just read Sun's Guide to the Collections framework.

Since Java 7 you have type inference for generic instance creation, so there is no need to duplicate generic parameters on the right hand side of the assignment:

List<String> list = new ArrayList<>();

A fixed-size list can be defined as:

List<String> list = Arrays.asList("foo", "bar");

For immutable lists you can use the Guava library:

List<String> list = ImmutableList.of("foo", "bar");

//simple example creating a list form a string array

String[] myStrings = new String[] {"Elem1","Elem2","Elem3","Elem4","Elem5"};

List mylist = Arrays.asList(myStrings );

//getting an iterator object to browse list items

Iterator itr= mylist.iterator();

System.out.println("Displaying List Elements,");

while(itr.hasNext())

  System.out.println(itr.next());

List is just an interface just as Set.

Like HashSet is an implementation of a Set which has certain properties in regards to add / lookup / remove performance, ArrayList is the bare implementation of a List.

If you have a look at the documentation for the respective interfaces you will find "All Known Implementing Classes" and you can decide which one is more suitable for your needs.

Chances are that it's ArrayList.

List is an interface like Set and has ArrayList and LinkedList as general purpose implementations.

We can create List as:

 List<String> arrayList = new ArrayList<>();
 List<String> linkedList = new LinkedList<>(); 

We can also create a fixed-size list as:

List<String> list = Arrays.asList("A", "B", "C");

We would almost always be using ArrayList opposed to LinkedList implementation:

1. LinkedList uses a lot of space for objects and performs badly when we have lots of elements.
2. Any indexed operation in LinkedList requires O(n) time compared to O(1) in ArrayList.
3. Check this link for more information.

The list created by Arrays.asList above can not be modified structurally but its elements can still be modified.

Java 8

As per doc, the method Collections.unmodifiableList returns an unmodifiable view of the specified list. We can get it like:

Collections.unmodifiableList(Arrays.asList("A", "B", "C"));