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Trail: Learning the Java Language
Lesson: Generics
Generics
Introduction
Generic Types
Generic Methods and Constructors
Bounded Type Parameters
Subtyping
Wildcards
Type Erasure
Summary of Generics
Questions and Exercises
Home Page > Learning the Java Language > Generics
Generic Types

> Let's update our `Box` class to use generics. We'll first create a generic type declaration by changing the code "`public class Box`" to "`public class Box<T>`"; this introduces one type variable, named `T`, that can be used anywhere inside the class. This same technique can be applied to interfaces as well. There's nothing particularly complex about this concept. In fact, it's quite similar to what you already know about variables in general. Just think of `T` as a special kind of variable, whose "value" will be whatever type you pass in; this can be any class type, any interface type, or even another type variable. It just can't be any of the primitive data types. In this context, we also say that `T` is a formal type parameter of the `Box` class.

>     /**
>      * Generic version of the Box class.
>      */
>     public class Box<T> {

>         private T t; // T stands for "Type"

>         public void add(T t) {
>             this.t = t;
>         }

>         public T get() {
>             return t;
>         }
>     }

> As you can see, we've replaced all occurrences of `Object` with `T`. To reference this generic class from within your own code, you must perform a generic type invocation, which replaces `T` with some concrete value, such as `Integer`:

> >     Box<Integer> integerBox;

> You can think of a generic type invocation as being similar to an ordinary method invocation, but instead of passing an argument to a method, you're passing a type argument — `Integer` in this case — to the `Box` class itself. Like any other variable declaration, this code does not actually create a new `Box` object. It simply declares that `integerBox` will hold a reference to a "`Box` of `Integer`", which is how `Box<Integer>` is read.

> An invocation of a generic type is generally known as a parameterized type.

> To instantiate this class, use the `new` keyword, as usual, but place `<Integer>` between the class name and the parenthesis:

> >     integerBox = new Box<Integer>();

> Or, you can put the entire statement on one line, such as:

> >     Box<Integer> integerBox = new Box<Integer>();

> Once `integerBox` is initialized, you're free to invoke its `get` method without providing a cast, as in `BoxDemo3`:

> >     public class BoxDemo3 {

> >         public static void main(String[] args) {
> >             Box<Integer> integerBox = new Box<Integer>();
> >             integerBox.add(new Integer(10));
> >             Integer someInteger = integerBox.get(); // no cast!
> >             System.out.println(someInteger);
> >         }
> >     }

> Furthermore, if you try adding an incompatible type to the box, such as `String`, compilation will fail, alerting you to what previously would have been a runtime bug:

>         BoxDemo3.java:5: add(java.lang.Integer) in Box<java.lang.Integer>
>         cannot be applied to (java.lang.String)
>             integerBox.add("10");
>                       ^
>         1 error

> It's important to understand that type variables are not actually types themselves. In the above examples, you won't find `T.java` or `T.class` anywhere on the filesystem. Furthermore, `T` is not a part of the `Box` class name. In fact during compilation, all generic information will be removed entirely, leaving only `Box.class` on the filesystem. We'll discuss this later in the section on Type Erasure

> Also note that a generic type may have multiple type parameters, but each parameter must be unique within its declaring class or interface. A declaration of `Box<T,T>`, for example, would generate an error on the second occurrence of `T`, but `Box<T,U>`, however, would be allowed.

> ### Type Parameter Naming Conventions

> By convention, type parameter names are single, uppercase letters. This stands in sharp contrast to the variable naming conventions that you already know about, and with good reason: Without this convention, it would be difficult to tell the difference between a type variable and an ordinary class or interface name.

> The most commonly used type parameter names are:

> - E - Element (used extensively by the Java Collections Framework)
> - K - Key
> - N - Number
> - T - Type
> - V - Value
> - S,U,V etc. - 2nd, 3rd, 4th types
> You'll see these names used throughout the Java SE API and the rest of this tutorial.

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