implementing a comparable interface in java

Question

I want my class to implement the Comparable interface. Which of the following approaches is correct

Option 1:

public Myclass implements Comparable<MyClass>{ public int compareTo(MyClass o){ //impl here } }

Option 2:

public Myclass implements Comparable{ public int compareTo(Object o){ //check if o instance of my class //impl here } }

rkg · Accepted Answer · 2011-03-04 06:04:59Z

Option 1. The answer is in the comments of the second snippet. You would avoid explicit type casting.

Option 1 takes advantage of Java Generics. Here is a link to the tutorial on Generics

Michael McGowan · Accepted Answer · 2011-03-04 06:05:41Z

I'd hesitate to call one "correct" and the other "incorrect," but option 1 seems "better." Option 1 uses generics, and one of the primary benefits of generics is to avoid doing the awkward instanceof followed by a cast from Option 2. However, generics were not originally part of Java, so some legacy code still uses the Option 2 approach.

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