Generics Programming
Generics means parameterized types. The idea is to allow type (Integer, String, … etc., and user-defined types) to be a parameter to methods, classes, and interfaces. Using Generics, it is possible to create classes that work with different data types.
Types of Generics
Generic Method: Generic Java method takes a parameter and returns some value after performing a task. It is exactly like a normal function, however, a generic method has type parameters that are cited by actual type. This allows the generic method to be used in a more general way. The compiler takes care of the type of safety which enables programmers to code easily since they do not have to perform long, individual type castings.
Generic Classes: A generic class is implemented exactly like a non-generic class. The only difference is that it contains a type parameter section. There can be more than one type of parameter, separated by a comma. The classes, which accept one or more parameters, are known as parameterized classes or parameterized types.
Generic Class
Like C++, we use <> to specify parameter types in generic class creation. To create objects of a generic class, we use the following syntax.
// To create an instance of generic class
BaseType <Type> obj = new BaseType <Type>()Note: In Parameter type we can not use primitives like ‘int’,’char’ or ‘double’.
class Test<T> {
// An object of type T is declared
T obj;
Test(T obj) { this.obj = obj; } // constructor
public T getObject() { return this.obj; }
}
// Driver class to test above
class Main {
public static void main(String[] args)
{
// instance of Integer type
Test<Integer> iObj = new Test<Integer>(15);
System.out.println(iObj.getObject());
// instance of String type
Test<String> sObj
= new Test<String>("WinForWin");
System.out.println(sObj.getObject());
}
}
Output
15
WinForWinWe can also pass multiple Type parameters in Generic classes.
Generic Functions:
We can also write generic functions that can be called with different types of arguments based on the type of arguments passed to the generic method. The compiler handles each method.
Generics Work Only with Reference Types:
When we declare an instance of a generic type, the type argument passed to the type parameter must be a reference type. We cannot use primitive data types like int, char.
Test<int> obj = new Test<int>(20);The above line results in a compile-time error that can be resolved using type wrappers to encapsulate a primitive type.
But primitive type arrays can be passed to the type parameter because arrays are reference types.
ArrayList<int[]> a = new ArrayList<>()Type Parameters in Generics
The type parameters naming conventions are important to learn generics thoroughly. The common type parameters are as follows:
- T — Type
- E — Element
- K — Key
- N — Number
- V — Value
Advantages of Generics:
Programs that use Generics has got many benefits over non-generic code.
1. Code Reuse: We can write a method/class/interface once and use it for any type we want.
2. Type Safety: Generics make errors to appear compile time than at run time (It’s always better to know problems in your code at compile time rather than making your code fail at run time). Suppose you want to create an ArrayList that store name of students, and if by mistake the programmer adds an integer object instead of a string, the compiler allows it. But, when we retrieve this data from ArrayList, it causes problems at runtime.
