Item 29: Favor generic types

It is generally not too difficult to parameterize your declarations and make use of the generic types and methods provided by the JDK. Writing your own generic types is a bit more difficult, but it’s worth the effort to learn how.

// Object-based collection - a prime candidate for generics
public class Stack {
    private Object[] elements;
    private int size = 0;
    private static final int DEFAULT_INITIAL_CAPACITY = 16;

    public Stack() {elements = new Object[DEFAULT_INITIAL_CAPACITY];
    }

    public void push(Object e) {
        ensureCapacity();
        elements[size++] = e;
    }

    public Object pop() {
        if (size == 0)
            throw new EmptyStackException();
        Object result = elements[--size];
        elements[size] = null; // Eliminate obsolete reference
        return result;
    }

    public boolean isEmpty() {
        return size == 0;
    }

    private void ensureCapacity() {
        if (elements.length == size)
            elements = Arrays.copyOf(elements, 2 * size + 1);
    }
}

// Initial attempt to generify Stack - won't compile!
public class Stack<E> {
    private E[] elements;
    private int size = 0;
    private static final int DEFAULT_INITIAL_CAPACITY = 16;

    public Stack() {
        elements = new E[DEFAULT_INITIAL_CAPACITY];
    }

    public void push(E e) {
        ensureCapacity();
        elements[size++] = e;
    }

    public E pop() {
        if (size == 0)
            throw new EmptyStackException();
        E result = elements[--size];
        elements[size] = null; // Eliminate obsolete reference
        return result;
    }
    ... // no changes in isEmpty or ensureCapacity
}

Stack.java:8: generic array creation
        elements = new E[DEFAULT_INITIAL_CAPACITY];

Stack.java:8: warning: [unchecked] unchecked cast
found: Object[], required: E[]
        elements = (E[]) new Object[DEFAULT_INITIAL_CAPACITY];
                       ^

// The elements array will contain only E instances from push(E).
// This is sufficient to ensure type safety, but the runtime
// type of the array won't be E[]; it will always be Object[]!
@SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
public Stack() {
    elements = (E[]) new Object[DEFAULT_INITIAL_CAPACITY];
}

// elements from E[] to Object[]

Stack.java:19: incompatible types
found: Object, required: E
        E result = elements[--size];

Stack.java:19: warning: [unchecked] unchecked cast
found: Object, required: E
        E result = (E) elements[--size];

// Appropriate suppression of unchecked warning
public E pop() {
    if (size == 0)
        throw new EmptyStackException();

    // push requires elements to be of type E, so cast is correct
    @SuppressWarnings("unchecked") E result =
        (E) elements[--size];

    elements[size] = null; // Eliminate obsolete reference
    return result;
}

Thus, the first technique is preferable and more commonly used in practice. It does, however, cause heap pollution (Item 32): the runtime type of the array does not match its compile-time type (unless Ehappens to be Object). This makes some programmers sufficiently queasy that they opt for the second technique, though the heap pollution is harmless in this situation.

// Little program to exercise our generic Stack
public static void main(String[] args) {
    Stack<String> stack = new Stack<>();
    for (String arg : args)
        stack.push(arg);
    while (!stack.isEmpty())
        System.out.println(stack.pop().toUpperCase());
}

This is a fundamental limitation of Java’s generic type system. You can work around this restriction by using boxed primitive types (Item 61).

class DelayQueue<E extends Delayed> implements BlockingQueue<E>

The type parameter E is known as a bounded type parameter. Note that the subtype relation is defined so that every type is a subtype of itself [JLS, 4.10], so it is legal to create a DelayQueue<Delayed>.

In summary, generic types are safer and easier to use than types that require casts in client code. When you design new types, make sure that they can be used without such casts. This will often mean making the types generic. If you have any existing types that should be generic but aren’t, generify them. This will make life easier for new users of these types without breaking existing clients (Item 26).