What's so special about CardLayout vs manual adding/removal of JPanels?

Question

There have been many times on StackOverflow where a user asks a question like this...

I have a main JPanel that contains a child JP

Answer 1

• With CardLayout, it's easier to have loose coupling (though not impossible with roll your own)
• With CardLayout, the preferredSize of the card-holder is that of the largest card it holds.
• CardLayout is harder to fark-up, and allows almost trivial contiguous component swapping its next() and prev() methods.
• You can easily associate the desired component with a constant -- no need to have to create a Map for this purpose as it's already there for you. I've not infrequently used enums for this.
• No need to remember to call repaint() and revalidate() when swapping components.
• It's built for and allows for easy re-use of components.

I can't explain the reason for a down-vote though, unless they're upset you didn't mention the need to remember to call repaint() and revalidate() when swapping components. You'll have to ask the down-voter if they are brave enough to respond.