Is there a way to refer to the current type with a type variable?

Question

Suppose I\'m trying to write a function to return an instance of the current type. Is there a way to make T refer to the exact subtype (so T should

Answer 1

I may not fully understood the question, but isn't it enough to just do this (notice casting to T):

   private static class BodyBuilder {

        private final int height;
        private final String skinColor;
        //default fields
        private float bodyFat = 15;
        private int weight = 60;

        public BodyBuilder(int height, String color) {
            this.height = height;
            this.skinColor = color;
        }

        public T setBodyFat(float bodyFat) {
            this.bodyFat = bodyFat;
            return (T) this;
        }

        public T setWeight(int weight) {
            this.weight = weight;
            return (T) this;
        }

        public Body build() {
            Body body = new Body();
            body.height = height;
            body.skinColor = skinColor;
            body.bodyFat = bodyFat;
            body.weight = weight;
            return body;
        }
    }

then subclasses won't have to use overriding or covariance of types to make mother class methods return reference to them...

    public class PersonBodyBuilder extends BodyBuilder {

        public PersonBodyBuilder(int height, String color) {
            super(height, color);
        }

    }