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coolchock
coolchock

Reputation: 99

Java generics with parameter - inheritance

I have the following code:

public class Inheritance {

    class A<T,U,V>{

    }

    class B<T,U,V> extends A<T,U,T>{        

    }
}

Could somebody explain me, how it actually works? Does the Class B extend only A class, which parameters are "T,U,T", or it extends the actual A"T,U,V" class?

Upvotes: 2

Views: 922

Answers (4)

kuceraf
kuceraf

Reputation: 601

Let put it into real example: 

 public class Inheritance {
        public static class A<T,U,V>{
             T t;
             U u;
             V v;

             A(T t, U u, V v) {
                this.t = t;
                this.u = u;
                this.v = v;
            }

            T getT() {return t;}
            U getU() {return u;}
            V getV() {return v;}
        }

        public static class B<T,U,V> extends A<T,U,T>{
            public B(T t, U u, V v) {
                super(t, u ,t);
            }
        }

        public static void main(String[] args) {
            B<Boolean, Integer, String> b = new B<>(false, 1, "string");
           // 't' attribute is Boolean 
           // since type parameter T of class B is Boolean
           Boolean t = b.getT(); 
           // 'v' attribute is Boolean 
           // since type parameters T and V of class A must have the same type as 
           // type parameter T of class B 
           Boolean v = b.getV(); 
        }
    }

Basically class B extends class A (which has three generic params). By declaring B<T,U,V> extends A<T,U,T> you just bind the A's first and A's third generic param to the same type of B's first param

As shown in example in constructor of class B we have three distinct types - Boolean, Integer, String, but in constructor of class A we have only two distinct types Boolean, Integer because 1st and 3th constructor param of class A are both bound to Boolean type

More on generics and inheritence can be found here: https://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/java/generics/inheritance.html

Upvotes: 2

Riptide
Riptide

Reputation: 405

In this code, the templated type "identifiers" for each class are not linked to each other, let me modify the snippet to explain what I mean :

public class Inheritance {
    class A<T,U,V> { }

    class B<I,J,K> extends A<I,J,I>{ }
}

The code is the same as before. You can see that there is no "naming" correlation between I,J,K and T,U,V.

Here the types I and J are forwarded to A. From A's perspective, a substitution is made with : T=I, U=J, V=I.

Upvotes: 2

Andrew
Andrew

Reputation: 49606

Does the Class B extend only A class, which parameters are "T,U,T"

Yes, exactly.

or it extends the actual A"T,U,V" class?

It's a template, there are no actual generic parameters. It's a way to match your own parameter types with the parent's ones. If there is a B<String, Integer, Long> instance, there will be a parent object A<String, Integer, String> backing it.

Upvotes: 3

luk2302
luk2302

Reputation: 57114

A's T = B's T
A's U = B's U
A's V = B's T 

B<String, Integer, Void> b = null;
A<String, Integer, String> a = b;

Upvotes: 4

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