Generics problem

[George Gates]

Hi All,

This question is from Javabeat 350 mock questions.

Question:
Which call(s) to method(addandDisp) are error free?

public static <T> void addandDisp(Collection<T> cs, T t)
{
for (T o : cs)
{
s.add(o);
}
for (T o : cs)
{
System.out.println(o);
}}
//call 1
List<? super Object> ls1 = new LinkedList<Object>();
addandDisp(ls1,new String());
//call 2
List<? extends Object> ls2 = new LinkedList<Object>();
addandDisp(ls2,new Object());
//call 3
List<Object> ls3 = new LinkedList<Object>();
addandDisp(ls3,new String());
//call 4
List<? super Object> ls4 = new LinkedList<Object>();
addandDisp(ls4,new Object());

Options are:
a)only 3
b)only 1 and 3
c)only 1 and 4
d)only 1,2 and 3
e)only 1,3 and 4

Answer: e.

Can some one explain why the answer is 'e' and what is wrong with the other 4 options.

Thanks

[Jamie MacDonald]

Recheck your code. The variable s in the addandDisp() method is undeclared. In addition, the parameter t is unused.

[Steve Ng]

Hi,

I think that Jamie did not look carefully at the code. All the calls and declaration are fine.

The call 2 is wrong because:

the method arguments are as follows: addandDisp(Collection<T> cs, T t)

But the parameters passed in as follows: (List<? extends Object>, Object)

This results in ambiguity of types passed in because T is a "specific type and only 1 type" (for example T can be Integer) but ? extends Object can be anything that extends Object(such as Socket, Arrays etc). The compiler can see that this may be or may not be the type T so it isn;t safe to allow this to compile.

The call

List<? super Object> ls1 = new LinkedList<Object>();
addandDisp(ls1,new Object());

is safe because the compiler knows that T is super type of Object, so anything can be added to the collection because it's safe to passed in anything which can be cast to T(supertype)
[ August 11, 2008: Message edited by: Steve Ng ]

[Jamie MacDonald]

It is entirely possible that I am missing something. Can you tell me where the variable s in the 5th line of the code sample
s.add(o);
is declared?

I agree that not using the parameter t will not cause a problem. I just noted that as it seemed possible that it might point to an error in transcription.

[Steve Ng]

Originally posted by Jamie MacDonald:
It is entirely possible that I am missing something. Can you tell me where the variable s in the 5th line of the code sample
s.add(o);
is declared?

I agree that not using the parameter t will not cause a problem. I just noted that as it seemed possible that it might point to an error in transcription.

I believe what he meant is: cs.add(o);

[George Gates]

Hi Steve,

I am sorry for the error. I did mean cs.add(o).
Thanks for explaining the solution.
The main concept is you cannot add anything in the collection that has wildcard '?' and extends. In other cases, adding is OK for the same type or any subtypes of the generic type.

Thanks again

[kanishka weerasekara]

in wild cards<? super someclass> will enable to add only the someclass objects no subclasses or super classes.
These wild cards are actually meant for assigning a reference to an actual collection object.
eg List<? extends Number> list=new ArrayList<Integer>();
list =new ArrayList<Integer>();
These wild cards are not meant for the adding object but for the assigned collection object.
Is my idea about this correct. I am doing my exam in two weeks time

[hari harann]

hi kanishka, i think our issues are similar. please check this link
https://coderanch.com/t/269960/java-programmer-SCJP/certification/generic-super
but am not still clear with wat was explained there..