Why Java allows casting obj with Interface [duplicate]

Question

public class InterfaceCasting {

    private static class A{}

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        A a = new A();
        Serializable serializable = new Serializable(){};
        a = (A)serializable;
    }

}

Compilation succeed but Runtime exception

Exception in thread "main" java.lang.ClassCastException: InterfaceCasting$1 cannot be cast to InterfaceCasting$A

WHY COMPILATION SUCCEED? Compiler must known that serialiazable is not A?

Answer 1

As you point out, this will compile:

interface MyInterface {}

class A {}

public class InterfaceCasting {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        MyInterface myObject = new MyInterface() {};
        A a = (A) myObject;
    }
}

This however, will not compile:

interface MyInterface {}

class A {}

public class InterfaceCasting {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        A a = (A) new MyInterface() {}; // javac says: "inconvertible types!"
    }
}

So, what's going on here? What's the difference?

Well, since MyInterface is simply an interface, it could very well be implemented by a class that extends A, in which case the cast from MyInterface to A would be legal.

---

This code for instance, will succeed in 50% of all executions, and illustrates that the compiler would need to solve possibly undecidable problems in order to always "detect" illegal casts at compile time.

interface MyInterface {}

class A {}

class B extends A implements MyInterface {}

public class InterfaceCasting {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        MyInterface myObject = new MyInterface() {};
        if (java.lang.Math.random() > 0.5)
            myObject = new B();
        A a = (A) myObject;
    }
}

Answer 2

Java language specification states, that:

Some casts can be proven incorrect at compile time; such casts result in a compile-time error.

And later on the show The detailed rules for compile-time legality of a casting conversion of a value of compile-time reference type S to a compile-time reference type T - beware, they are very complex and hard to understand.

The interesting rule is:

• If S is an interface type:
  • If T is a type that is not final (§8.1.1), then if there exists a supertype X of T, and a supertype Y of S, such that both X and Y are provably distinct parameterized types, and that the erasures of X and Y are the same, a compile-time error occurs. Otherwise, the cast is always legal at compile time (because even if T does not implement S, a subclass of T might).

In your example, it's perfectly clear, that the cast is illegal. But consider this slight change:

public class InterfaceCasting {

    private static class A{}
    private static class B extends A implements Serializable{}

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        A a = new A();
        Serializable serializable = new B(){};
        a = (A)serializable;
    }    
}

Now a cast from a Serializable to A is possible at runtime and this shows, that in those cases, it's better left to the runtime to decide if we can cast or not.