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The "generic programming" paradigm is an approach to software decomposition whereby fundamental requirements on types are abstracted from across concrete examples of algorithms and data structures and formalized as concepts, analogously to the abstraction of algebraic theories in abstract algebra. [6]
Generics are checked at compile-time for type-correctness. [7] The generic type information is then removed in a process called type erasure. [6] For example, List<Integer> will be converted to the non-generic type List, which ordinarily contains arbitrary objects. The compile-time check guarantees that the resulting code uses the correct type.
In some systems for object-oriented programming such as the Common Lisp Object System (CLOS) [1] and Dylan, a generic function is an entity made up of all methods having the same name. Typically a generic function is an instance of a class that inherits both from function and standard-object. Thus generic functions are both functions (that can ...
[1]: 340 Parametrically polymorphic functions and data types are sometimes called generic functions and generic datatypes, respectively, and they form the basis of generic programming. Parametric polymorphism may be contrasted with ad hoc polymorphism .
Monomorphization is a compile-time process where polymorphic functions are replaced by many monomorphic functions for each unique instantiation. [1] It is considered beneficial to undergo the mentioned transformation because it results in the output intermediate representation (IR) having specific types, which allows for more effective optimization.
For example, suppose that a program defines two types, A and B, where B is a subtype of A. If the program tries to convert a value of type A to type B, which is known as downcasting, then the operation is legal only if the value being converted is actually a value of type B. Thus, a dynamic check is needed to verify that the operation is safe.
Generic role-playing game system, a framework that provides rule mechanics for any setting—world or environment or genre; Genus, the generic name for classification of an organism in taxonomy; Album – Generic Flipper, an album by the band Flipper; Generic, the surname of the titular character and his family on Bobby’s World
Concepts are an example of structural typing. As generics in Java and C# have some similarities to C++'s templates, the role of concepts there is played by interfaces. However, there is one important difference between concepts and interfaces: when a template parameter is required to implement a particular interface, the matching type can only ...