Cannot create a generic array of ... in Java

Question

I'm getting an error that I can't understand. I defined the class Couple in Java this way :

public class Couple<T1, T2>{


private T1 t1;
private T2 t2;

    public Couple(T1 t1, T2 t2) {
        this.t1 = t1;
        this.t2 = t2;
    }

    public Couple() {
        this.t1 = null;
        this.t2 = null;
    }


    public T1 getFirst(){return t1;}
    public T2 getSecond(){return t2;}
}

And in an another class, I try to define an array this way :

Couple<byte[], byte[]>[] res = new Couple<byte[], byte[]>[10];

But Eclipse tells me the error "Cannot create a generic array of Couple<byte[], byte[]> ". Well, the thing that I don't understand is that I mentionned that I wanted a couple of byte[], so there is no genericity at this point, am I wrong ?

DennisW · Accepted Answer · 2015-01-31 15:29:17Z

3

Java generics are not reified, which means that the 'implementations' are not classes in their own right. The fact that you can't create arrays of generic types is an inherent limitation of the language.

I'd recommend you to use a List instead of an array.

answered Jan 31, 2015 at 15:29

DennisW

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