as T

is an unchecked cast, it does not actually do any check, it says "ok I'll assume this is a T now".

but if you do

null as String

it will crash

Yes, because

String

is a concrete type.

T

is a type parameter, it could be any type, it's erased.

but is not in that case

Yes, but while compiling

getSerializableOrDefault

the compiler does not know that.

Sorry still don't get it 😅 at the end T in my specific case is gonna be a non-nullable type because the default is not gonna be null, so either the compiler is doing some extra checks that i'm not aware of or that should crash, no?

Generics are erased. Once compiled your

getSerializableOrDefault

method looks like this:

fun Intent.getSerializableOrDefault(name: String, default: Any?)

you can cast it to a

T?

so that it is more clear

ahhhh i see

It would still be unchecked, @trevjones

yep, i could use

as? T

or

as T?

, but Take is still right

checked or not doesn’t matter as much I am more concerned about it being clear what the expectation is