When to use generic methods and when to use wild-card?

Question

I am reading about generic methods from OracleDocGenericMethod. I am pretty confused about the comparison when it says when to use wild-card and when to use generic methods.

Answer 1

Wildcard method is also generic - you could call it with some range of types.

The syntax defines a type variable name. If a type variable has any use (e.g. in method implementation or as a constraint for other type), then it makes sense to name it, otherwise you could use ?, as anonymous variable. So, looks like just a short-cut.

Moreover, the ? syntax is not avoidable when you declare a field:

class NumberContainer
{
 Set numbers;
}