Generics

The generics feature was introduced into Java in version 5. To start with an example, our Sortable interface until now was this:

public interface Sortable {
    Object get(int i);
    int size();
}

After introducing generics, it will be as follows:

package packt.java189fundamentals.ch03.generic;

public interface Sortable<E> {
    E get(int i);
    int size();
}

The E identifier denotes a type. It can be any type. It says that a class is a sortable collection if it implements the interface, namely the two methods—size and get. The get method should return something that is of type E, whatever E is. This may not make too much sense up until now, but you will soon get the point. After all, generics is a difficult topic.

The Sort interface will become the following:

package packt.java189fundamentals.ch03.generic;

public interface Sort<E> {
    void sort(Sortable<E> collection);
}

And SortSupport becomes the following:

package packt.java189fundamentals.ch03.generic;


import...