title: Why would iterating over a List be faster than indexing through it?
body: <p>Reading the <a href="http://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/api/java/util/List.html" rel="noreferrer">Java documentation for the ADT List</a> it says:</p>
  
  <blockquote>
    <p>The List interface provides four methods for positional (indexed) access to list elements. Lists (like Java arrays) are zero based. Note that these operations may execute in time proportional to the index value for some implementations (the LinkedList class, for example). Thus, iterating over the elements in a list is typically preferable to indexing through it if the caller does not know the implementation.</p>
  </blockquote>
  
  <p>What exactly does this mean? I don't understand the conclusion which is drawn.</p>