“Iterable cannot be cast to List” - Isn't `List` a type of `Iterable`?

Question

I called a getElements method which returns Iterable.

I did this:

List elements = (List

        

Answer 1

List is a subinterface of Iterable meaning that List includes pretty much everything that Iterable has, however not the other way around. So not all methods in a List instance would have an equivalent in Iterable.

Try to avoid that sort of casting.

I would recommend you to take a quick look at the Java 6 API and the tutorials covering casting