How do I use paramertized generic types in an inner class?

Question

I am trying to implement an inner class that has a generic parameterized type.

Here is a short version of my code:

public class AVLTree<T extends Comparable<? super T>> implements Iterable<T> {
 ...

 private class BinaryNode<T extends Comparable<? super T>> {
  ...
 }

 private class TreePreOrderIterator<E extends Comparable<? super E>> implements Iterator<E> {
  ...
 }

}

It does not work. Eclipse/Java is giving me a warning that the type T parameter on the inner class is 'hiding' the super class's parameter. Any thoughts on how I can fix this?

EDIT: I added the other inner class I'm having problems with: TreePreOrderIterator. The generic type T will be the same for AVLTree, BinaryNode, and TreePreOrderIterator. The inner classes need to access fields in AVLTree.

EDIT2: Also, the Iterator accesses a BinaryNode<T>, which is a conflict.

(Note: This is part of bigger project I'm doing for a class. If any other information is needed, please ask.)

Answer 1

If you want T in BinaryNode to be the same type as the enclosing T associated with AVLTree, remove the declaration of T in BinaryNode.

If you want the T in BinaryNode to be different than the enclosing T associated with AVLTree, but you want to be able to access properties of the parent AVLTree, rename T to something else.

If you don't need to access properties of the enclosing AVLTree, make BinaryNode static.

Answer 2

Just rename T to something else so it wouldn't conflict with the outer class T.

The type parameter names are visible in all the class scope, including the inner classes. So inner classes or instance methods should declare yet another type parameter whose name conflict with the class type parameter. However, static nested classes and static methods don't have that problem.

Answer 3

Just remove generic type declaration from the BinaryNode class. Since the class is declared private, it can only exist within AVLTree, and therefor you can just use the T declared for AVLTree anywhere inside BinaryNode.

Answer 4

It's because the parameter T (as the parameter for the BinaryNode<T> class) is the same as that used for AVLTree<T> -- the parameter used for AVLTree is normally in scope for the definition of the inner class BinaryNode, but because you're giving a new parameter the same name, it will be hidden. You could instead use:

private class BinaryNode<U extends Comparable<? super T>> { ... }