erasure not reified

1   public class T {

2       public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {

3           A<String,B> a = new A<String,B>();

4           B b = a.get("hello");

5       }

6

7       static class B {}

8

9       static class A<K,V> {

10          V get(K k) {

11              Object obj = get_object_for(k);

12              V v = (V)obj;

13              return v;

14          }

15          Object get_object_for(K k) {

16              return flipcoin() ? new Object() : new B();

17          }

18

19          boolean flipcoin() {

20              return (Math.random()*10)%2 < 1;

21          }

22      }

23  }

This will fail at line number 4 whenever flipcoin returns true, (and one would

hope it to fail at line number 12 so at least we can catch ClassCastException

and handle it), what if I want to check in A.get if object retured from

get_object_for is an instanceof B or not and handle accordingly but

I can’t do that due to generic type erasure might have worked if it were reified.

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