CopyOnWriteArrayList类set方法疑惑？

在淘宝内网有位同事提了一个很好的问题，大家能否帮忙解答下？

在CopyOnWriteArrayList类的set方法中有一段setArray(elements)代码，实际上这段代码并未对elements做任何改动，实现的volatile语意并不对CopyOnWriteArrayList实例产生任何影响，为什么还是要保留这行语句？见以下代码红体部分：

查看源代码

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01	/** The array, accessed only via getArray/setArray. */

02	private volatile transient Object[] array;

03

04

/**

05	* Replaces the element at the specified position in this list with the

06	* specified element.

07

*

08	* @throws IndexOutOfBoundsException {@inheritDoc}

09

*/

10	public E set(int index, E element) {

11	final ReentrantLock lock = this.lock;

12	lock.lock();

13

try {

14	Object[] elements = getArray();

15	E oldValue = get(elements, index);

16

17	if (oldValue != element) {

18	int len = elements.length;

19	Object[] newElements = Arrays.copyOf(elements, len);

20	newElements[index] = element;

21	setArray(newElements);

22

} else {

23	// Not quite a no-op; ensures volatile write semantics

24	setArray(elements);

25

}

26	return oldValue;

27	} finally {

28	lock.unlock();

29

}

30

}

31

32

/**

33	* Sets the array.

34

*/

35	final void setArray(Object[] a) {

36	array = a;

37

}

38

39

/**

40	* Gets the array.  Non-private so as to also be accessible

41	* from CopyOnWriteArraySet class.

42

*/

43	final Object[] getArray() {

44	return array;

45

}

这个问题在concurrency-interest邮件列表里也有人讨论：

http://cs.oswego.edu/pipermail/concurrency-interest/2010-February/006886.html