What are the advantages of type erasure?

What are the advantages of type erasure in programming?

Type erasure allows for more flexible and generic code, enabling developers to write functions that can operate on different data types without needing to specify them explicitly.

Can you give me an example of how type erasure is used?

Sure! In Java, generics use type erasure to remove type information at runtime, allowing for backward compatibility with older versions.

What are the downsides of type erasure?

One downside is that it can lead to runtime type errors since type information is not available at runtime, making debugging more challenging.

Is type erasure common in other programming languages?

Yes, many languages like C# and Scala also implement type erasure in their generics systems, promoting code reusability.

How does type erasure affect performance?

Type erasure can improve performance by reducing the overhead of maintaining type information at runtime, but it may also introduce some runtime checks.