Question

Eclipse can be configured to “ignore unavoidable generic type problems” when setting the preferences for the Java Compiler in the “Errors/Warnings” panel.

What are such “unavoidable” generic type problems in Java? Is it safe to ignore these? When do they arise?

Answer 1

From the documentation of the feature:

When enabled, the compiler will issue an error or a warning even when it detects a generic type problem that could not have been avoided by the programmer. As an example, a type may be forced to use raw types in its method signatures and return types because the methods it overrides from a super type are declared to use raw types in the first place.

So, for example:

class Test {
    public void method(ArrayList list) {
    }
}

class TestSub extends Test {

    @Override
    public void method(ArrayList list) {
    //                 ^^^^^^^^^
    //     Complain on use of raw type or not?

        System.out.println("Overridden");
    }
}