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Type bound extends a final class

ID: java/type-bound-extends-final
Kind: problem
Security severity: 
Severity: warning
Precision: medium
Tags:
   - maintainability
   - readability
   - types
Query suites:
   - java-security-and-quality.qls

Click to see the query in the CodeQL repository

A type wildcard with an extends clause (for example ? extends String) implicitly suggests that a type (in this case String) has subclasses. If the type in the extends clause is final, the code is confusing because a final class cannot have any subclasses. The only type that satisfies ? extends String is String.

Recommendation

To make the code more readable, omit the wildcard to leave just the final type.

Example

In the following example, a wildcard is used to refer to any type that is a subclass of String.

class Printer
{
	void print(List<? extends String> strings) {  // Unnecessary wildcard
		for (String s : strings)
			System.out.println(s);
	}
}

However, because String is declared final, it does not have any subclasses. Therefore, it is clearer to replace ?&nbsp;extends&nbsp;String with String.

References

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