Mis on genrikud programmeerimises?

Generics are a way to write flexible, reusable code that works with any data types while maintaining type safety. They allow deferring the specification of a specific type until the point of use.

Main advantages:

• Avoiding code duplication: You can write one algorithm/data structure that works with different types.
• Type safety: The compiler checks type conformity during compilation, preventing runtime errors related to incorrect types.
• More expressive code: Clearly shows the developer's intentions regarding data types.

Example in Swift:

Generic Stack structure:

struct Stack<Element> {
    // generic Element is used as the type of array elements
    private var items: [Element] = []

    // generic Element is used as the type of parameter
    mutating func push(_ item: Element) {
        items.append(item)
    }

    // generic Element is used as the return type
    mutating func pop() -> Element {
        return items.removeLast()
    }
}

Using with strings:

var stringStack = Stack<String>()
stringStack.push("hello")
stringStack.push("world")
let lastString = stringStack.pop() // lastString is of type String

Using with numbers:

var intStack = Stack<Int>()
intStack.push(1)
intStack.push(2)
let lastInt = intStack.pop() // lastInt is of type Int

Without generics, separate structures would need to be written for Stack<String>, Stack<Int>, etc., or less safe approaches (like Any) would have to be used.