Question

I have this class…

public abstract class LoadboardTable
{
    protected Map<String, HashMap<HasTableFields, String>>  table   = new TreeMap<String, HashMap<HasTableFields, String>>();

    public Set<Entry<String, HashMap<HasTableFields, String>>> getEntries()
    {
        return table.entrySet();
    }

    ...
}

In other classes, I am constantly repeating the generic type. For example…

for (Entry<String, HashMap<HasTableFields, String>> entry : myTable.getEntries()){}

Set<Entry<String, HashMap<HasTableFields, String>>> entries = otherTable.getEntries();

etc, etc...

This generic type is repeated and littered all over the application. Is there a better way? If I ever decide to change the generic type of the table Map object in the LoadboardTable class, I’ll be changing it everywhere else too for days. Plus it’s just a huge pain to keep typing it.

Answer 1

There is no way to avoid the repetition, except in the constructor, since Java 7:

protected Map<String, HashMap<HasTableFields, String>> table = new TreeMap<>();

You would have better code, and less to type, if you encapsulated the HashMap and entries in well-defined classes, though. It looks like you’re using objects as open data structures, instead of using them as closed objects offering behaviour and keeping their state encapsulated.