Generics allow type-safe programming by enabling classes, interfaces, and methods to operate on objects of various types while providing compile-time type checking.

• Type safety → Prevents runtime type errors.
• Code reusability → Same code can handle multiple types.
• Eliminates explicit typecasting → Cleaner and safer code.
• Improved readability and maintainability.

Bounded types restrict the type parameter to a specific superclass or interface.
Example: T extends Number means the generic type can only be a subclass of Number.

• ? extends T → Upper bounded wildcard; allows reading objects of type T or its subclasses.
• ? super T → Lower bounded wildcard; allows writing objects of type T or its subclasses.

No. Generics require reference types, not primitives. For primitive types, their corresponding wrapper classes (Integer, Double, etc.) must be used.