What does in ClassName in java indicate?

Question

I was reading some tutorial where I came across terms like
Key<Car> rootKey = new Key<Car>(Car.class, 959);
What does <Car> mean in this code? Why are these "<>" symbols used here? Please help.

http://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/java/generics/generics.html — Adam, Apr 03 '12 at 21:35
possible duplicate of [What do < and > mean such as implements Comparable?](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/450520/what-do-and-mean-such-as-implements-comparablebiginteger) — Tomalak, Apr 03 '12 at 21:35

ach · Accepted Answer · 2012-04-03T21:47:04.223

The in your snippet represents a generic type specifier. You can instantiate class Key with a type other than Car and its methods will be type-safe for that variable at compile time.

For example, the following statement is type-safe, just as your example is:

Key<String> rootKey = new Key<String>(String.class, "someString");

See http://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/java/generics/gentypes.html for more information.

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 03 '12 at 21:35

1

Java Generic Types: http://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/java/generics/gentypes.html

answered Apr 03 '12 at 21:35

Marcos

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score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Apr 03 '12 at 21:37

0

Car is your "Car-Object class" you are passing in.
<> symbols are used for specifying type of Object you want for your Key class

answered Apr 03 '12 at 21:37

Kevin

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What does in ClassName in java indicate?

3 Answers3