Difference between FetchType LAZY and EAGER in Java Persistence API?

Question

I am a newbie to Java Persistence API and Hibernate.

What is the difference between FetchType.LAZY and FetchType.EAGER in Java Persistence API?

Answer 1

By default, for all collection and map objects the fetching rule is FetchType.LAZY and for other instances it follows the FetchType.EAGER policy.
In brief, @OneToMany and @ManyToMany relations does not fetch the related objects (collection and map) implicictly but the retrieval operation is cascaded through the field in @OneToOne and @ManyToOne ones.

(courtesy :- objectdbcom)