The Java 5 generics compromise orthogonality to keep compatibility
| Autor: | Atanas Radenski, Vladimir Zanev, Jeff Furlong |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2008 |
| Předmět: |
Java
Java syntax Interface (Java) Computer science Scala Programming language strictfp Generics in Java Type erasure computer.software_genre Java concurrency Real time Java Hardware and Architecture Wildcard Compiler computer Java annotation Software Information Systems computer.programming_language Java Modeling Language |
| Zdroj: | Journal of Systems and Software. 81:2069-2078 |
| ISSN: | 0164-1212 |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.jss.2008.04.008 |
| Popis: | In response to a long-lasting anticipation by the Java community, version 1.5 of the Java 2 platform - referred to as Java 5 - introduced generic types and methods to the Java language. The Java 5 generics are a significant enhancement to the language expressivity because they allow straightforward composition of new generic classes from existing ones while reducing the need for a plethora of type casts. While the Java 5 generics are expressive, the chosen implementation method, type erasure, has triggered undesirable orthogonality violations. This paper identifies six cases of orthogonality violations in the Java 5 generics and demonstrates how these violations are mandated by the use of type erasure. The paper also compares the Java 5 cases of orthogonality violations to compatible cases in C# 2 and NextGen 2 and analyzes the tradeoffs in the three approaches. The conclusion is that Java 5 users face new challenges: a number of generic type expressions are forbidden, while others that are allowed are left unchecked by the compiler. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
| Externí odkaz: |
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