How to interpret “public T readObjectData(… Class type)” in Java?

Question

I have this Java code.

public  T readObjectData(ByteBuffer buffer, Class type) {
...
T retVal = (T) summaries;
return retVal;

Answer 1

You are probably confused by a similar and more common declaration:

class MyClass {
   private  T myMethod(T a){
       return  a;
   }
}

In above case, there is no need for "" after private ( private T myMethod(T a) )

because the T it's using is the same than the one defined in the class MyClass

Even more, if you write

class MyClass {
   private  T myMethod(T a){
       return  a;
   }
}

then the meaning is that the myMethod return type is (potentially) different than the MyClass type. As if you wrote this instead:

class MyClass {
   private  T2 myMethod(T2 a){
       return  a;
   }
}

Credits: Took the example from "Kanagavelu Sugumar"'s longer answer to How to use Class in Java?