What is the purpose of iterators in linked lists?

• A. They provide a standard way to traverse elements in a container.
• B. They guarantee constant-time element access.
• C. They store the list's data separately from nodes.
• D. They optimize memory usage for the list.

Answer: (A)

Iterators give a standard way to walk through elements in a container. In a linked list, an iterator acts like a cursor that points to a node and knows how to move to the next node, so you can read the value by dereferencing and know when you’ve reached the end by comparing to an end marker. This abstraction lets the same traversal patterns be used across different containers, enabling algorithms to work with any container that provides iterators without caring about how the data is stored or organized internally. It also decouples the act of moving through the list from the actual data structure, so you can write reusable code that operates on lists, vectors, and other iterable containers alike.