How to use Class in Java?

All we know is “All instances of a any class shares the same java.lang.Class object of that type of class”
e.g)
Student a = new Student();
Student b = new Student();

Then a.getClass() == b.getClass() is true.
Now assume
Teacher t = new Teacher();

without generics the below is possible.
Class studentClassRef = t.getClass();

But this is wrong now ..?
e.g) public void printStudentClassInfo(Class studentClassRef) {} can be called with Teacher.class
This can be avoided using generics.
Class studentClassRef = t.getClass(); //Compilation error.

Now what is T ?? T is type parameters (also called type variables); delimited by angle brackets (<>), follows the class name.
T is just a symbol, like a variable name (can be any name) declared during writing of the class file. Later that T will be substituted with valid Class name during initialization (HashMap map = new HashMap();)
e.g) class name
So Class represents a class object of specific class type ‘T’.
Assume that your class methods has to work with unknown type parameters like below
/**
* Generic version of the Car class.
* @param the type of the value
*/
public class Car {
// T stands for “Type”
private T t;

public void set(T t) { this.t = t; }
public T get() { return t; }
}

Here T can be used as String type as CarName
OR T can be used as Integer type as modelNumber,
OR T can be used as Object type as valid car instance.
Now here the above is the simple POJO which can be used differently at runtime.
Collections e.g) List, Set, Hashmap are best examples which will work with different objects as per the declaration of T, but once we declared T as String
e.g) HashMap map = new HashMap(); Then it will only accept String Class instance objects.
Generic Methods
Generic methods are methods that introduce their own type parameters. This is similar to declaring a generic type, but the type parameter’s scope is limited to the method where it is declared. Static and non-static generic methods are allowed, as well as generic class constructors.
The syntax for a generic method includes a type parameter, inside angle brackets, and appears before the method’s return type. For generic methods, the type parameter section must appear before the method’s return type.
class Util {
// Generic static method
public static boolean compare(Pair p1, Pair p2) {
return p1.getKey().equals(p2.getKey()) &&
p1.getValue().equals(p2.getValue());
}
}

class Pair {

private K key;
private V value;
}

Here is the declaration of types used in the method arguments which should before the return type which is boolean here.
In the below; type declaration is not required at method level, since it is already declared at class level.
class MyClass {
private T myMethod(T a){
return a;
}
}

But below is wrong as class-level type parameters K, V, Z, and Y cannot be used in a static context (static method here).
class Util {
// Generic static method
public static boolean compare(Pair p1, Pair p2) {
return p1.getKey().equals(p2.getKey()) &&
p1.getValue().equals(p2.getValue());
}
}

OTHER VALID SCENARIOS ARE
class MyClass {

//Type declaration already done at class level
private T myMethod(T a){
return a;
}

// is overriding the T declared at Class level;
//So There is no ClassCastException though a is not the type of T declared at MyClass.
private T myMethod1(Object a){
return (T) a;
}

//Runtime ClassCastException will be thrown if a is not the type T (MyClass).
private T myMethod1(Object a){
return (T) a;
}

// No ClassCastException
// MyClass obj= new MyClass();
// obj.myMethod2(Integer.valueOf(“1”));
// Since type T is redefined at this method level.
private T myMethod2(T a){
return a;
}

// No ClassCastException for the below
// MyClass o= new MyClass();
// o.myMethod3(Integer.valueOf(“1”).getClass())
// Since is undefined within this method;
// And MyClass don’t have impact here
private T myMethod3(Class a){
return (T) a;
}

// ClassCastException for o.myMethod3(Integer.valueOf(“1”).getClass())
// Should be o.myMethod3(String.valueOf(“1”).getClass())
private T myMethod3(Class a){
return (T) a;
}

// Class a :: a is Class object of type T
// is overriding of class level type declaration;
private Class myMethod4(Class a){
return a;
}
}

And finally Static method always needs explicit declaration; It wont derive from class level Class. This is because of Class level T is bound with instance.
Also read Restrictions on Generics
Wildcards and Subtyping
type argument for a generic method

Using the generified version of class Class allows you, among other things, to write things like
Class someCollectionClass = someMethod();

and then you can be sure that the Class object you receive extends Collection, and an instance of this class will be (at least) a Collection.