make arrayList.toArray() return more specific types

A shorter version of converting List to Array of specific type (for example Long):

Long[] myArray = myList.toArray(Long[]::new);

(available from java 11)

Like this:

List<String> list = new ArrayList<String>();

String[] a = list.toArray(new String[0]);

Before Java6 it was recommended to write:

String[] a = list.toArray(new String[list.size()]);

because the internal implementation would realloc a properly sized array anyway so you were better doing it upfront. Since Java6 the empty array is preferred, see .toArray(new MyClass[0]) or .toArray(new MyClass[myList.size()])?

If your list is not properly typed you need to do a cast before calling toArray. Like this:

    List l = new ArrayList<String>();

    String[] a = ((List<String>)l).toArray(new String[l.size()]);

It doesn't really need to return Object[], for example:-

    List<Custom> list = new ArrayList<Custom>();
    list.add(new Custom(1));
    list.add(new Custom(2));

    Custom[] customs = new Custom[list.size()];
    list.toArray(customs);

    for (Custom custom : customs) {
        System.out.println(custom);
    }

Here's my Custom class:-

public class Custom {
    private int i;

    public Custom(int i) {
        this.i = i;
    }

    @Override
    public String toString() {
        return String.valueOf(i);
    }
}