Types isAssignable and isSubtype misunderstanding

Question

In writing an Annotation Processor using the Java 6 API, I came across a need to handle all Maps in a particular fashion, but I'm clearly misunderstanding what the API is intended to do or how to invoke it. Here's the code that's making me unhappy:

import javax.lang.model.element.Element;
import javax.lang.model.type.TypeMirror;
import javax.lang.model.util.Elements;
import javax.lang.model.util.Types;
import javax.annotation.processing.ProcessingEnvironment;
...

public String doThing(Element el, ProcessingEnvironment processingEnv) {
    // Utilities from the ProcessingEnvironment
    Types typeUtils = processingEnv.getTypeUtils();
    Elements elementUtils = processingEnv.getElementUtils();

    // The type of the element I'm handling
    TypeMirror elType = el.asType();

    // Compare the element's type to Map
    TypeMirror mapType = elementUtils.getTypeElement("java.util.Map").asType();

    System.out.println(elType + " > " + mapType + " = " + typeUtils.isSubtype(elType, mapType));
    System.out.println(mapType + " > " + elType + " = " + typeUtils.isSubtype(mapType, elType));
    System.out.println(elType + " > " + mapType + " = " + typeUtils.isAssignable(elType, mapType));
    System.out.println(mapType + " > " + elType + " = " + typeUtils.isAssignable(mapType, elType));

    // Compare the element's type to HashMap
    TypeMirror hashmapType = elementUtils.getTypeElement("java.util.HashMap").asType();

    System.out.println(elType + " > " + hashmapType + " = " + typeUtils.isSubtype(elType, hashmapType));
    System.out.println(hashmapType + " > " + elType + " = " + typeUtils.isSubtype(hashmapType, elType));
    System.out.println(elType + " > " + hashmapType + " = " + typeUtils.isAssignable(elType, hashmapType));
    System.out.println(hashmapType + " > " + elType + " = " + typeUtils.isAssignable(hashmapType, elType));


    // Compare the element's type to Object
    TypeMirror objectType = elementUtils.getTypeElement("java.lang.Object").asType();

    System.out.println(elType + " > " + objectType + " = " + typeUtils.isSubtype(elType, objectType));
    System.out.println(objectType + " > " + elType + " = " + typeUtils.isSubtype(objectType, elType));
    System.out.println(elType + " > " + objectType + " = " + typeUtils.isAssignable(elType, objectType));
    System.out.println(objectType + " > " + elType + " = " + typeUtils.isAssignable(objectType, elType));
}

Given that, here's the output of it:

java.util.HashMap<K,V> > java.util.Map<K,V> = false
java.util.Map<K,V> > java.util.HashMap<K,V> = false
java.util.HashMap<K,V> > java.util.Map<K,V> = false
java.util.Map<K,V> > java.util.HashMap<K,V> = false

java.util.HashMap<K,V> > java.util.HashMap<K,V> = true
java.util.HashMap<K,V> > java.util.HashMap<K,V> = true
java.util.HashMap<K,V> > java.util.HashMap<K,V> = true
java.util.HashMap<K,V> > java.util.HashMap<K,V> = true

java.util.HashMap<K,V> > java.lang.Object = true
java.lang.Object > java.util.HashMap<K,V> = false
java.util.HashMap<K,V> > java.lang.Object = true
java.lang.Object > java.util.HashMap<K,V> = false

This makes perfect sense to me except for the first block where I'd expect a HashMap element to be assignable to Map, and I'd expect HashMap to be a subtype of Map.

What am I missing here?

Answer 1

I suspect it's because of the type variables. HashMap<String, String> is assignable to Map<String, String> but without the concrete instantiation of the type variables you can't be sure that an arbitrary HashMap<A,B> is assignable to Map<X,Y>.

If you instantiate the variables with wildcards then you should get the result you expect

DeclaredType wildcardMap = typeUtils.getDeclaredType(
    elementUtils.getTypeElement("java.util.Map"),
    typeUtils.getWildcardType(null, null),
    typeUtils.getWildcardType(null, null));

This will give you the type mirror for Map<?,?>, which all HashMap instantiations are assignable to.