Invoking statically imported method with explicit type parameters

Question

This is the follow up of my question here: Weird Java generic.

If I have a code like this:

Casts.<X, T> cast(iterable[index]); 

Can I add a static import and do:

<X, T> cast(iterable[index]); 

Eclipse doesn't allow this. But after seeing so many bugs with static import in Eclipse, I'm not that certain.

Answer 1

No, you can't : I just confirmed this via some test code.

PS > javac -version javac 1.6.0_04 

Casts.java

public class Casts {     public static <From, To> To cast(final From object)     {         return (To)object;     } } 

Test.java

import static Casts.cast;  public class Test {     public static void main(String[] args)     {         final Integer integer = new Integer(5);          // This one compiles fine.         final Number number = Casts.<Integer, Number>cast(integer);          // This one fails compilation:         // PS> javac Test.java         // Test.java:11: illegal start of expression         //             final Number number = <Integer, Number>cast(integer);         //                                                    ^         // Test.java:11: not a statement         //             final Number number = <Integer, Number>cast(integer);         //                                                        ^         final String string = <Integer, String>cast(integer);     } }