Example
Use-site variance is similar to Java wildcards:
Out-projection:
val takeList : MutableList<out SomeType> = ... // Java: List<? extends SomeType>
val takenValue : SomeType = takeList[0] // OK, since upper bound is SomeType
takeList.add(takenValue) // Error, lower bound for generic is not specified
In-projection:
val putList : MutableList<in SomeType> = ... // Java: List<? super SomeType>
val valueToPut : SomeType = ...
putList.add(valueToPut) // OK, since lower bound is SomeType
putList[0] // This expression has type Any, since no upper bound is specified
Star-projection
val starList : MutableList<*> = ... // Java: List<?>
starList[0] // This expression has type Any, since no upper bound is specified
starList.add(someValue) // Error, lower bound for generic is not specified
See also:
-
Variant Generics interoperability when calling Kotlin from Java.
