Error in Generics code

Question

Why is the below code giving a compile time error.

    Map<String,? extends Object> inputMap = 
                 new HashMap<String, ? extends Object>();

The compile time error.

Cannot instantiate the type HashMap<String,? extends Object>

I want a map with String as key and which takes any object as value

Answer 1

? does not mean "takes any object". It means "take a specific type of object, that happens to be unknown", which doesn't make sense when actually creating a container.

Try this instead:

 Map<String,Object> inputMap = new HashMap<String,Object>();