Dart: cannot assigna type with generics to a Type variable

Question

If I try to assign a type with generics to a Type variable I get an error, but if I use a runtimeType variable everything works fine.

  Type t = List;
  //Type t1 = List<int>;  // ERROR !!!
  Type t2 = new List<int>().runtimeType;
  print('$t $t2');  //> List List<int>

Is it a bug or there is something I'm not getting?

Answer 1

Your first line is surprising, but, yes, it works. Class literals have type "Type":

print((List).runtimeType);
--> TypeImpl

print(List is Type);
--> true

The problem with the rest of your snippet is exactly the issue you found on github:

https://github.com/dart-lang/sdk/issues/11923

-- that class literals cannot use generics. You'll have to get an instance and use runtimeType to get the type you want here.