JAVA GENERICS
Introduced from JDK 5.0 onwards.
The Java Generics helps us to deal with the compiler time type-safety.
With the help of the Generics, we can write a single method and call it with different
argument types(integer, strings, etc.).
ADVANTAGES OF GENERICS:
1. Bugs can be detected at compile-time:
While developing any application or program, it is always better to catch the bug/problem
at the compile-time instead of runtime so that we can provide a smooth experience to the
user.
Let's take an example to see how Java Generics helps us to detect problems at compile-
time:
import java.util.ArrayList;
public class CWH {
public static void main(String[] args) {
// Without Java Generics :
ArrayList myArrayList = new ArrayList();
myArrayList.add(10); //Integer value
myArrayList.add("Harry Bhai!"); //String value
myArrayList.add(20.4); //Double value
System.out.println(myArrayList);
[10, Harry Bhai!, 20.4]
In the above code, notice that we can store any type of object in a collection without Generics.
But, this is not the case with the Generics. It allows us to store only one type of object. Take a
look at the example given below :
import java.util.ArrayList;
public class CWH {
public static void main(String[] args) {
// With Java Generics :
ArrayList<Integer> myArrayList = new ArrayList <Integer>();
myArrayList.add(10); //Integer value
myArrayList.add("Harry Bhai!"); //String value
myArrayList.add(20.4); //Double value
System.out.println(myArrayList);
The same code produces the Incompatible type error because we can only store the integer
object type.
2. Type-casting not required :
Let's suppose you created an ArrayList(without using Generics), and you want to store
the value at index 0 into an integer variable named "x." Are you allowed to do this in
Java? The answer is a big NO! This is because the ArrayList returns an object, but we're
storing the value in an integer variable. In such cases, we need to type-cast the object into
our desired data type. But, if we use Generics, then there is no need to typecast. Take a
look at the below example to get a better understanding :
import java.util.ArrayList;
public class CWH {
public static void main(String[] args) {
// Without Java Generics :
ArrayList myArrayList = new ArrayList();
myArrayList.add(10); //Integer value
myArrayList.add("Harry Bhai!"); //String value
myArrayList.add(20.4); //Double value
int x = myArrayList.get(0);
System.out.println(x);
}
The above code produces an error because we've not typecasted the object into the integer type.
Now, let's typecast and see the results :
import java.util.ArrayList;
public class CWH {
public static void main(String[] args) {
// Without Java Generics :
ArrayList myArrayList = new ArrayList();
myArrayList.add(10); //Integer value
myArrayList.add("Harry Bhai!"); //String value
myArrayList.add(20.4); //Double value
int x = (int) myArrayList.get(0); //b=object typecasted into integer
System.out.println(x);
10
Now, let's see how we can get the desired results with the help of the Generics :
import java.util.ArrayList;
public class CWH {
public static void main(String[] args) {
// With Java Generics :
ArrayList<Integer> myArrayList = new ArrayList();
myArrayList.add(10);
myArrayList.add(20);
myArrayList.add(30);
myArrayList.add(40);
int x = myArrayList.get(0);
System.out.println(x);
10
3. GENERICS IN JAVA EXAMPLE
package com.company;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.Scanner;
class MyGeneric<T1, T2>{
int val;
private T1 t1;
private T2 t2;
public MyGeneric(int val, T1 t1, T2 t2) {
this.val = val;
this.t1 = t1;
this.t2= t2;
public T2 getT2() {
return t2;
public void setT2(T2 t2) {
this.t2 = t2;
}
public int getVal() {
return val;
public void setVal(int val) {
this.val = val;
public T1 getT1() {
return t1;
public void setT1(T1 t1) {
this.t1 = t1;
public class cwh_110_generics {
public static void main(String[] args) {
ArrayList<Integer> arrayList = new ArrayList();
// ArrayList<int> arrayList = new ArrayList(); -- this will produce an error
// arrayList.add("str1");
arrayList.add(54);
arrayList.add(643);
// arrayList.add(new Scanner(System.in));
int a = (int) arrayList.get(0);
// System.out.println(a);
MyGeneric<String, Integer> g1 = new MyGeneric(23, "MyString is my string ", 45);
String str = g1.getT1();
Integer int1 = g1.getT2();
System.out.println(str + int1);
