What are best practices for working with PECS principle?

PECS stands for "Producer Extends, Consumer Super". It is a principle in Java that helps developers understand when to use generics in class hierarchies while maintaining flexibility and type safety. Here are some best practices for working with the PECS principle:

Use Wildcards for Flexibility: Use the '? extends' wildcard when you want to read data from a structure and the '? super' wildcard when you want to write data to a structure.
Favor More Specific Types: When possible, prefer more specific types over wildcards to maintain type safety.
Limit the Scope of Wildcards: Use wildcards only when necessary to keep the code clean and understandable.
Document the Use of Wildcards: Clearly document why wildcards are being used to help future developers understand your code.

Example:


        // Example demonstrating the use of PECS principle in Java
        import java.util.ArrayList;
        import java.util.List;

        public class PeCSExample {
            public static void addNumbers(List super Integer> list) {
                list.add(1);
                list.add(2);
                list.add(3);
            }

            public static void printNumbers(List extends Number> list) {
                for (Number number : list) {
                    System.out.println(number);
                }
            }

            public static void main(String[] args) {
                List numberList = new ArrayList<>();
                addNumbers(numberList);
                printNumbers(numberList);
            }
        }

PECS Java generics wildcards best practices

What are best practices for working with PECS principle?

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What are best practices for working with PECS principle?

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