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Erasure: how we got the generics we have, or how I learned to stop worrying and love erasure (cr.openjdk.org)

submitted 1 year ago by JackbyDev to c/java

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A great read for folks wondering why Java uses type erasure instead of "reified" generics. For the unaware, that means that a List<Integer> is a List<Object> at runtime. I had always wondered about it and why they didn't take the alternative route. For context, C# does have reified types so the actual type parameter is available at runtime.

I personally love reading in depth discussions about counter intuitive engineering decisions like this.

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[–] JackbyDev 2 points 1 year ago

Yeah, agreed. My first project as a junior dev was on Java 6 using something written before Java 5 that they sort of slapped generics all over for no apparent reason. So many warnings lol.