about generic method and the vars arg

[Helen Ma]

This is a mock exam question from Mughal and Rasumansse's book:
public class Vars {
public static <E > void print(E e, E...src){

for (E elt: src){
System.out.print(elt +"|");
}

System.out.println( );
}

public static void main (String...strings ){
String[] sa ={"9","6"};

print (sa, "9","6");
}
}
The output is |9|6.
But my question is E e is a String[] type in this case. Therefore E...src must be String[]...src .
However, in this quiz, "9", "6" are two String being passed to print method."6" and "9" are String, but not String[].
Why does it still compiled?

[Helen Ma]

Another funny thing is that :
public class Vars {
public static <E > void print(E e, E src){


System.out.println(src );
}

public static void main (String...strings ){
String[] sa ={"9","6"};

print ("0", new Integer(1));
}
}
I modified the question a little bit, I pass a String "0" as the e , the an Integer as the src. I thought E e and E src must have the same type. But the compiler compiles the E as an object since E does not extends any type , like <E extends Integer> or <E extends String>.

To answer my previous question ,
I think print (sa, "9", "6") are compiles as sa is an object, "9" is an object and "6" is an object. E ... src is Object[] src = {"9" , "6"}

Correct me if I am wrong.

[Glen Iris]

Hi Helen,

Firstly, when you quote code you should place it in code tags - it just makes it easier to read.

To answer your first question,

void helensMethod(String...src){}

helensMethod can be invoked by using:

helensMethod("x");

or

helensMethod("x","y");

or

helensMethod("x","y","z")

We can pass helensMethod any number of Strings (as long as that number >= 1.

Ie - when you use var agrs in the method signature you can pass 1 or more of the type amount to the method.


To answer your second question:

It is acceptable to pass an Integer and a String as the var args. Although they are different types, they both extend Object.

[Helen Ma]

Hi, This quiz is about generic and var args.

I just noticed something about generic. I have the following code

   void <E> print (List<E> e, List<E> e1) {... }
   

E has to be the same. So, I should pass in List<Animal> e and List<Animal> e1 as parameters. If I pass in List<Animal> e and List<Dog> e1 , it won't compile.

But in the quiz, the code is like this:

      void <E> print(E e , E... e1) { ...}

E is an object type. Therefore I can pass a String as e and Integer as e1. e and e1 may not have the same type, unlike the above List<E> e example.

So,my conclusion is that print (sa, "9", "6") means passing sa , the String[] sa = {"9","6"} and passing "9" and "6" as the string var arguments.
The "9" and "6" will be put inside the String array. (E... e1 is compiled as E[] e1).
Before, I misunderstood that if E e is a string[], e1 has to be a string[] too.