Why aren't Java Collections remove methods generic?

Question

Why isn\'t Collection.remove(Object o) generic?

Seems like Collection could have boolean remove(E o);

Then, when you ac

Answer 1

Remove is not a generic method so that existing code using a non-generic collection will still compile and still have the same behavior.

See http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/java/library/j-jtp01255.html for details.

Edit: A commenter asks why the add method is generic. [...removed my explanation...] Second commenter answered the question from firebird84 much better than me.