dout in genric coll help

[Chandra shekar M]

Hi All,

I am using K&B book in that a question is
public class test<E>{

public List<E> process(List<E> input){}

}

the above method SHOULD AND MUST return List<E> only that is it cant even return (implementer)ArrayList<E>.But it can take ArrayList<E> I am confused with this when it is taking (implementer)ArrayList<E> why cant it return the same.

But in the same way if I replace List<E> with supercalss and ArrayList<E> with subsclass that is in the same way as above but instead of List<E> and ArrayList<E> a Supercalss<E> and Subsclass<E> (user defined classes) then it will allow to pass the argument and return the argument of type Subclass<E> in the above case ArrayList<E>.

But with List<E> and ArrayList<E> it only takes ArrayList<E> but does not Allow to return ArrayList<E>.

[Anton Uwe]

import java.util.*;
 
public class Testxx<E>{
 
public List<E> process(List<E> input){
return new ArrayList<E>();
}
}

As you can see, the process method is able to return an ArrayList. But you can only refer to it as a List.

import java.util.*;
 
public class Testxx<E>{
 
public List<E> process(List<E> input){
return new LinkedList<E>();
}
}

That way the process-method will still return a List, but now it's not an ArrayList.

"public List<E> process(List<E> input)" ensures you can have any List as input (as i.e. ArrayList<E> , but you can only rely on getting back a List<E>. It might be an ArrayList<E>, but it might be a LinkedList<E>,too.

[Chandra shekar M]

Hi

Thanks for the reply please see this code

 
import java.util.*;
public class Testxx<E>{  
    public List<E> process(List<E> input) {
        ArrayList<Integer> all=new ArrayList<Integer>(); // Line 2
        return all;
    }
 
    public static void main(String... args) {
        ArrayList<Integer> al=new ArrayList<Integer>(); //Line 1
 
        new Testxx<Integer>().process(al);
    } 
 
}

when I am passing ArrayList it is Accepting it at Line 1 but in Line 2 I am trying to do the same thing but it throws an compile time error.

when it is accepting ArrayList 'al' whose refrence type is also ArrayList then when I am returning a ArrayList 'all' whose refrence type is also ArrayList then why it is throwing error.


(edited code tags and formatting)
[ January 22, 2007: Message edited by: Barry Gaunt ]

[Anton Uwe]

ArrayList<Integer> all=new ArrayList<Integer>(); // Line 2

Bad idea...
This has to be

ArrayList<E> all=new ArrayList<E>(); // Line 2

[Barry Gaunt]

What you are attempting to do is to assign an ArrayList<Integer> (which is a List<Integer> ;) to a List<E> which is a list of type what?

E is the type of the list you are passing as an argument. That is, E could be anything. The only thing you can return is a List<E> (or a subtype of List<E> ) or a raw List (or subtype of List) with a warning.
[ January 22, 2007: Message edited by: Barry Gaunt ]

[Chandra shekar M]

Hi

I am not able to understand this logic behind this I am guessing that resolution of <E> to <Integer> is creating problem according to you can you please help me in understanding the logic behind this .

Thank you very much for the response

[Barry Gaunt]

You are not the only one struggling with this stuff

Forget your main method and consider only the method:

import java.util.*;
public class Testxx<E>{  
    public List<E> process(List<E> input) {
        ArrayList<Integer> all=new ArrayList<Integer>(); // Line 2
        return all;
    }
}    

E is not being resolved to being Integer. E is any type whatsoever. This is a generic class which supposed to work for Integer, String, Apple, Car, Map, anything. Suppose E is chosen to be Apple then you are attempting to return an ArrayList<Integer> instead of an List<Apple>. Suppose E is chosen to be String, then you are attempting to return ArrayList<Integer> instead of an List<String>. Only in the very special case when the E represents Integer would your code be correct. But E has to represent any type for the class to be generic.

So you can only return an ArrayList<E> to a List<E> for the code to remain generic. (You can also return a raw type of ArrayList but that gives an unchecked warning).

[Chandra shekar M]

Thank you very much barry gaunt and Anton Uwe

in helping me to understand this concept now my dout is cleared basically problem was with <E> type resolution

Thanks