Re: Creating arrays using GENERICS

Please help again. I need to resolve this issue. Why is this code not
allowed:

Gen<Integer> intGen[] = new Gen<Integer>[10];

According to the book I read by Schildt: "Arrays of specific generic
types simply aren't allowed, because they can lead to a loss of type
safety."

I understand what type safety means but I dont get in what WAY does
type safety compromised in THIS SITUATION.

Java experts please do help.

If the element type of an array were not reifiable (?4.7),
the virtual machine could not perform the store check
described in the preceding paragraph.
This is why creation of arrays of non-reifiable types is forbidden.
One may declare variables of array types whose element type is not
reifiable, but any attempt to assign them a value will give rise
to an unchecked warning (?5.1.9).

An array creation expression creates an object that is a new array
whose elements are of the type specified by the PrimitiveType or
ClassOrInterfaceType. It is a compile-time error if the
ClassOrInterfaceType does not denote a reifiable type (?4.7).
Otherwise, the ClassOrInterfaceType may name any named reference
type, even an abstract class type (?8.1.1.1) or an interface type (?9).

Discussion

The rules above imply that the element type in an array creation
expression cannot be a parameterized type, other than an unbounded wildcard.