Java pass object of any class as a parameter

Question

So the idea is...

In C and in other languages you can pass an untyped pointer as a parameter, e.g.:

C

foo( void* p1 ) ;

pascal

function foo(pointer p1 ) : string ;

These are untyped and it is on the function to know what to do with them. I want to do the same thing in java e.g.:

class some class{

   String someMethod(Class p1){
      return (String) p1
   }

}

Is this even possible?

You can use an Object type, but it doesn't look like a good design. — kraskevich
– kraskevich, Commented Dec 12, 2014 at 19:51
I think you could pass an Object and the cast it to whatever ... but why would you need this im interested — vlatkozelka
– vlatkozelka, Commented Dec 12, 2014 at 19:52
So the idea is to make a universal way to load a class using reflection and to be able to pass any parameter of any type to the method without using some monster framework like spring. — FlyingGuy
– FlyingGuy, Commented Dec 12, 2014 at 20:05
If you want to ask another question, post a new question instead of editing your existing question. (If you're looking for opinions, though, Stack Overflow probably isn't the place to ask.) — user2357112
– user2357112, Commented Dec 12, 2014 at 20:47

user2357112 · Accepted Answer · 2014-12-12 19:52:22Z

3

You want Object, not Class.

public String someMethod(Object p1) {
    return whatever;
}

answered Dec 12, 2014 at 19:52

user2357112

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7 Comments

vlatkozelka Over a year ago

may i ask when would one face such a scenario ?

user2357112 Over a year ago

@vlatkozelka: If you're implementing the equals method, for example.

Gus Over a year ago

This is the answer to the OP's question, but including a mention of Generics (docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/java/generics ) might also be helpful.

ajb Over a year ago

@vlatkozelka I've recently implemented methods where I wanted the parameter list to be a variable-length list of either String, Pattern, or some other object that implemented another class of mine. So Object... was the natural choice. Using Object as a parameter may be a sign of poor design, but not always. That's how println is defined.

FlyingGuy Over a year ago

So using object ( I have not been doing java that long ) was the correct solution. Thanks Mucho!

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