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GENERICS FAQ |
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If you want to provide feedback or have any questions regarding Java
generics, to which you cannot find an answer in this document, feel free
to send me
EMAIL
or use the
GENERICS FAQ
form.
A printable version of the FAQ documents is available in PDF
format (4.5MB).
About This FAQ
© Copyright 2004-2009 by Angelika Langer. All Rights Reserved.How is this FAQ organized at large?
The FAQ has 4 major sections:
"Language Features of Java Generics" is a huge section that explains all language features of Java Generics: This section can be seen as the theoretical foundation and lays the ground for understanding more practical and more advanced issues."Practicalities - Programming With Java Generics" aims to address issues that arise when you use Java Generics in practice. It discusses topics such as "How do I design a generics API?" , "Should my class be generic or not?", "What happens when I mix generic and non-generic Java?", "Why is class Class generic and what is good for?". The focus is on programming techniques on the one hand and pitfalls and surprises on the other hand. It is likely that this section will grow over time as programming idioms and techniques using Java Generics will be discovered. "Technicalities - Under the Hood of the Compiler" addresses more advanced and more esoteric aspects of Java Generics, that will become the more interesting the more you learn about about Java Generics Some of these topics are typically of little interest when you begin using generics. For instance, the section explains what the notorious "unchecked" warnings are, what translation by type erasure is, what wildcard capture and type inference are, what the type system looks like now that it includes generic types, and how overload resolution work in presence of generic methods. In addition to these 4 main section the FAQ has a Table Of Contents , a reference to More Information on Java Generics such as tutorials, books, articles, and websites, a Glossary , and an alphabetic Index . |
|
| LINK TO THIS | Preface.FAQ001 |
| REFERENCES | |
How are the individual answered questions organized?
|
There is a question, a short answer and a sometimes
fairly long answer, plus a cross reference section.
I've found that many readers underestimate the reference section - to their own detriment. The cross references refer to related items and point in particular to entries that explain terms or facts mentioned in the text, but not explained there. In other words, if there is something in the explanation that has not been explained yet, go to the reference section and see whether you can find a reference to a corresponding entry that explains it. If not, let me know. |
|
| LINK TO THIS | Preface.FAQ002 |
| REFERENCES | |
Whom is the FAQ for?
| For practicing Java programmer who have to do with Java Generics. | |
|
First a disclaimer: the FAQ does not aim to be mainly a
tutorial. Tutorials can be found elsewhere. It has tutorial
style answers, but it goes beyond what a casual or first time generics
users might want to know about Java Generics. On the other hand,
it is still written for humans, as opposed to compiler builders or computer
science theorists whose pet issue is type theory. While type theory
is an interesting topic, the main target audience is programmers who use
or want to use generics in practice.
The FAQ is supposed to grow and mature over time. In particular the section on programming techniques using generics will hopefully gain weight as the body of experience with Java generics grows. If you have a technique or observation made in practive that you want to share with other programmers, feel free to send email and suggest it for inclusion to the FAQ. |
|
| LINK TO THIS | Preface.FAQ003 |
| REFERENCES |
Where
can I find a generics tutorial?
Whom do I contact when I have questions, comments or suggestions related to this FAQ? |
How do I best read the FAQ - top-to-bottom or zig-zag?
| Both should be possible. | |
|
The FAQ is kind of organized in a way that you can read
it sequentially, starting with the first question until the bitter end.
However, you will find that occasional jumps back and forth will be inevitable.
For instance, when the language features are explained the term type erasure will be mentioned. Type erasure is part of what the compiler does during compilation and it is discussed in detail in the Technicalities section. So you will probably jump forward to the explanation of type erasure to see what it is in principle, spare yourself the details, and return to the language feature from which you started your excursion to the Technicalities section. Beyond that, the FAQ is mainly intended as a reference and can be consulted any order you feel like. Related topics are grouped together so that it might be convenient to read certain sections that are of immediate interest and ignore the rest for the time being. You might find that the same fact is explained repeatedly in different entries. This is intended. A certain amount of redundency is inevitable in order to make it possible to use the FAQ as a reference. If you feel you already know this, skip it and move on. Also, if you use the FAQ as a reference, the table of contents and the index should help finding what you are looking for. If not. let me know. |
|
| LINK TO THIS | Preface.FAQ004 |
| REFERENCES |
Table
Of Contents
Index Whom do I contact when I have questions, comments or suggestions related to this FAQ? |
Whom do I contact when I have questions, comments or suggestions related to this FAQ?
| If you want to provide feedback or have questions regarding Java generics, to which you cannot find an answer in this document, feel free to send me EMAIL or use the GENERICS FAQ form. I might not be capable of answering in a timely manner or perhaps not at all, but I will try. | |
| LINK TO THIS | Preface.FAQ005 |
| REFERENCES | |
Table Of Contents
Acknowledgements
|
The FAQ is written and maintained by
Angelika
Langer
.
Klaus Kreft, Bruce Eckel and Cay Horstmann reviewed this FAQ and provided invaluable feedback. A number of individuals at (or formerly at) Sun Microsystems patiently answered countless question I posed regarding Java generics. My thanks to Gilad Bracha, Neal Gafter, and Peter von der Ahé. Suggestions and corrections, that inspired changes in this FAQ, have been provided by the following people (in alphabetic order): Eric Armstrong, Richard Grin, Markus Keller, Richard Kennard, Sascha Kratky, Keith Lea, Mike Lehmann, Maurice Naftalin, Joe Soroka, Frank Tip, Phil Wadler. |
Change Log
Below is a list of minor and major modifications
of the FAQ.
|
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Copyright Notice
|
All text and content found at URLs starting
with http://www.AngelikaLanger.com/GenericsFAQ/ (collectively, "the Java
Generics FAQ") are the sole property of Angelika Langer. Copyright
@ 2004-2008 by
Angelika Langer
. All
rights reserved.
Except as specifically granted below, you may not modify, copy, publish, sell, display, transmit (in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), adapt, distribute, store in a retrieval system, create derivative works, or in any other way use or exploit the contents of the Java Generics FAQ, without the prior consent of the author. All rights, titles and interest, including copyrights and other applicable intellectual property rights, in any of the material belongs to the provider of the material. You do not acquire proprietary interest in such materials by accessing them on my web site. You must abide by all copyright notices and restrictions on use of the material accessed. In particular, I do NOT grant permission to copy the Java Generics FAQ or any part of it to a public Web server. Link to the original pages instead. (The problem with you putting a page on your server is that the search engines will find it and send my readers to your server instead. Thus they will be deprived of the most up-to-date version of the document.)
Non-commercial Use
Other forms of non-commercial use may be allowed with prior written permission. If permission is granted for non-commercial use, credit to the copyright owner must be displayed as prescribed by copyright owner in every exposure of text. To request non-commercial use of copyrighted materials, please email your request and provide the following information: your name, organization, and title, your request (the text or texts you wish to quote) and the non-commercial purpose of the use. Commercial Use Commercial use on paper, electronic storage devices of all types, online via the Internet or any part of the World Wide Web or via any other electronic distribution is strictly prohibited without prior payment to the copyright owner, as well as attribution of ownership of copyright and URL in every exposure of text. To negotiate legal use of text owned and copyrighted by Angelika Langer, please send me email . Disclaimers
The author has taken care in the preparation of this material, but makes
no expressed or implied warranty of any kind and assumes no responsibility
for errors or omissions. No liability is assumed for incidental or consequential
damages in connection with or arising out of the information or programs
contained herein.
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last update: 10 Oct 2008