Is casting (a deferred) mutating the object?

Support
1

Does casting actually mutate an Object?
I have something like this (simplified):

val cDeferred = CompletableDeffered<X>()
launch{
    //Do things and complete cDeffered
}
return cDeferred as Deferred<Y> //does this cast count as mutating a shared object?

I think the answer is “no, the object stays the same”.

2

You are correct, the object does not change during a cast.

Just like if I gave you a small disc shaped object, you wouldn’t know what it is or how to use it. If I then told you that the object was a voice assistant (i.e. Amazon Alexa), you would know how to interact with it.

Telling you what kind of object a thing is so you can use it properly is essentially what casting does for your code.

In the case of casting generics, you do have to worry about variance. It’s a common mistake to treat List<Animal> as a supertype to List<Dog> just because Animal is a supertype Dog.

Still, casting one generic type to another, when done properly, does not change the object itself or the actual generic type for the object.

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