about the generic method

[VuTuan Tran]

1.import java.util.*;
2.public class CreateAnArrayList {
3.public <T> void makeArrayList(T t) { // take an object of an unknown type and use a "T" to represent the type
6.List<T> list = new ArrayList<T>(); // now we can create the list using "T"
8.ist.add(t);
9.}
10.}

At line 3. what is the meaning of this public <T> void.I am confusing because unknown type T goes with void in this case.Usually, void is return nothing.
Please help me,thanks

[Campbell Ritchie]

I presume you are familiar with this Java™ Tutorials section.

Your method creates a List, adds a T to it, then the List disappears when it goes out of scope, and might be garbage-collected. So it doesn't do anything useful.