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What are some good example classes for introducing generics in Java?

I'm introducing this in the context of implementing ArrayList, but I don't want my first example to be ArrayList itself due to the inability to create arrays of a generic type. I would also like my example to be something that doesn't seem contrived/has a practical use.

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    $\begingroup$ "Implementing" ArrayList or using the library class ArrayList from Collections? $\endgroup$
    – Buffy
    Oct 5, 2018 at 10:48
  • $\begingroup$ You can pretty easily do a linked list. $\endgroup$
    – ncmathsadist
    Oct 10, 2018 at 13:17
  • $\begingroup$ @ncmathsadist Definitely, but I wanted to introduce generics between array list and linked list, so that we could start off using linked lists with generics. I'm happy with the pair example mentioned below - it went over well in class. $\endgroup$
    – cryptic_star
    Oct 10, 2018 at 13:49

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While uniform collections are the obvious example, you can also build or use a Pair class in which the types of the two components are given by generic arguments. If you don't want to build it, there is a built-in class with this property: $Pair<K,V>$

But building one like it is simple enough if that is your goal.

Once you have your desired class, Write a function/method that needs to return two things instead of one. Bundle them up in a Pair.

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  • $\begingroup$ Perfect! Thank you! This is a very obvious one. I suppose that's what I get for making slides at night. $\endgroup$
    – cryptic_star
    Oct 5, 2018 at 11:07

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