I have a List being returned from a daoTemplate.query() call, using a rowMapper.
The SQL does an order by on a column, happens to be a date column, order by asc when I use the List, am I always guaranteed that the list will be in the order dictated by the sql. can I depend that the first element (theList.get(0)), will ALWAYS be the earliest date(in this case)?
Yes, At the time of execution, the first item will always be the most recent if you are ordering on a date column.