Convert generic arraylist to non-generic using Java 8 Stream

Question

I have some old code I'm trying to streamline:

ArrayList arr = (generic arraylist)
int[] newArr = new int[arr.size()];
for(int i=0; i<arr.size(); i++){
    newArr[i]=(int)arr.get(i);
}

I want to use the Java Stream API to simplify this. Here is my attempt:

ArrayList arr = (generic arraylist)
List<Integer> = arr.stream().map(m -> (int)m).collect(Collectors.toList());

My understanding is that it would iterate through arr, typecast every object m to an int, and then collect it into a List. But my compiler says that the right-hand-side of the second line returns and Object and not a List. Where am I going wrong?

int is premitive and ArrayList can only hold objects like Integer, what are you trying to do ? and why do you need type casting ? — Ryuzaki L
– Ryuzaki L, Commented Dec 17, 2020 at 18:19
Using the word “generic” is confusing here. Do you mean Generics? If not, change your wording. Give a complete code example. — Basil Bourque
– Basil Bourque, Commented Dec 17, 2020 at 18:31

David P. Caldwell · Accepted Answer · 2020-12-17 21:31:17Z

2

Per your attempt, it looks like you want to map your ArrayList to an ArrayList<Integer>. The good news is, you don't need to do any of this. The runtime type of ArrayList<Integer> is just ArrayList (this is called type erasure if you want to search for information about it). Only the compiler knows about the parameterized type.

So this code does what you want:

import java.util.ArrayList;

public class Cast {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        //  This represents the ArrayList of Integer in your existing code
        ArrayList raw = new ArrayList(java.util.Arrays.asList(
            Integer.valueOf(1), Integer.valueOf(2), Integer.valueOf(3)
        ));

        //  You know what it is, so all you need to do is cast
        ArrayList<Integer> typed = (ArrayList<Integer>)raw;
        
        //  Still works; now recognized as list of integer
        for (Integer x : typed) {
            System.err.println(x);
        }
    }
}

edited Dec 17, 2020 at 21:31

answered Dec 17, 2020 at 18:35

David P. Caldwell

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6 Comments

Basil Bourque Over a year ago

“raw” is the technical term here, not “untyped”. ArrayList is itself a type. See tutorial.

Anthony Over a year ago

Thank you! This was a more elegant/simple way of solving the problem :)

David P. Caldwell Over a year ago

Cool, @BasilBourque, I've changed the variable name to reflect the terminology.

Basil Bourque Over a year ago

And your variable name in typed = should be something like parameterizedTyping = or castWithGenerics =.

MC Emperor Over a year ago

You should not use Integer constructors, since they are deprecated.

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