Angle Bracket <> in Java with Examples

Angle Bracket in Java is used to define Generics. It means that the angle bracket takes a generic type, say T, in the definition and any class as a parameter during the calling. The idea is to allow type (Integer, String, … etc and user-defined types) to be a parameter to methods, classes, and interfaces. For example, classes like HashSet, ArrayList, HashMap, etc use generics very well. We can use them for any type.

Example:

<T> // of type T
<Integer> // of type Integer
<String> // of type String
<MyClass> // of type MyClass
.
.

How to use angle bracket with Class?:

We use angle brackets ‘<>’ to specify parameter types in generic class creation. To create objects of a generic class, we use the following syntax:

// To create an instance of generic class 
BaseType  obj = new BaseType ()

Note: In Parameter type,
      we can not use primitives like 
      'int', 'char' or 'double'.

// A Simple Java program
// to show working of user defined
// Generic classes

// We use < > to specify Parameter type
class Test<T> {

    // An object of type T is declared
    T obj;

    // constructor
    Test(T obj)
    {
        this.obj = obj;
    }

    public T getObject()
    {
        return this.obj;
    }
}

// Driver class to test above
class Main {
    public static void main(String[] args)
    {
        // instance of Integer type
        Test<Integer> iObj
            = new Test<Integer>(15);
        System.out.println(iObj.getObject());

        // instance of String type
        Test<String> sObj
            = new Test<String>("GeeksForGeeks");
        System.out.println(sObj.getObject());
    }
}

Output:

15
GeeksForGeeks

How to use angle bracket with Function?:

We use angle brackets ” to specify parameter types in the generic function definition. Then to call the function, we just pass the expecter type as a parameter. We can also write generic functions that can be called with different types of arguments based on the type of arguments passed to the generic method, the compiler handles each method.

// To create a generic function
public static  void func(T a, T b){}

Note: In Parameter type,
      we can not use primitives like 
      'int', 'char' or 'double'.

// A Simple Java program
// to show working of user defined
// Generic functions

class Test {
    // A Generic method example
    static <T> void genericDisplay(T element)
    {
        System.out.println(
            element
                .getClass()
                .getName()
            + " = " + element);
    }

    // Driver method
    public static void main(String[] args)
    {
        // Calling generic method
        // with Integer argument
        genericDisplay(11);

        // Calling generic method
        // with String argument
        genericDisplay("GeeksForGeeks");

        // Calling generic method
        // with double argument
        genericDisplay(1.0);
    }
}

Output:

java.lang.Integer = 11
java.lang.String = GeeksForGeeks
java.lang.Double = 1.0