Why Generics

Generics were introduced in Java with J2SE 1.5 in 2004, enhancing type safety by enforcing stronger compile-time type checks and eliminating the need for type casting. This prevents runtime errors, such as when treating incompatible types, and allows for the implementation of generic algorithms. A generic type, like LinkedList<E>, is parameterized over types, and type parameters (e.g., E, K, T) facilitate this functionality. Additionally, the diamond notation (<>) simplifies the instantiation of generic classes by allowing the compiler to infer type arguments automatically.