Java generic methods in generics classes

Question

If you create a generic class in Java (the class has generic type parameters), can you use generic methods (the method takes generic type parameters)?

Consider the f

Answer 1

The reason for this is backwards compatibility with pre-generics code. The pre-generics code did not use generic arguments, instead using what seems today to be a raw type. The pre-generics code would use Object references instead of references using the generic type, and raw types use type Object for all generic arguments, so the code was indeed backwards compatible.

As an example, consider this code:

List list = new ArrayList();

This is pre-generic code, and once generics were introduced, this was interpreted as a raw generic type equivalent to:

List list = new ArrayList<>();

Because the ? doesn't have an extends or super keyword after it, it is transformed into this:

List