What does the Object<type> syntax mean in Dart? - dart

Question

In the following code example, from the flutter docs:
class RandomWords extends StatefulWidget {
#override
createState() => RandomWordsState();
}
class RandomWordsState extends State<RandomWords> {
#override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
final wordPair = WordPair.random();
return Text(wordPair.asPascalCase);
}
}
What exactly does the State<RandomWords> syntax mean?
I understand that you can specify the type for the objects contained in a collection, like lists, using this syntax - List <String>
But I cannot understand the motive behind State<RandomWords>.
Moreover, how can you reference RandomWordsState in RandomWords declaration and also reference RandomWords in RandomWordsState declaration? Shouldn't that cause a circular reference error or something?
I come from dynamically typed languages like python, and this looks a little odd to me, can someone please point me to the right place?

Answer 1

<RandomWords> is a generic type parameter passed to the State class.
The State class looks like
abstract class State<T extends StatefulWidget> extends Diagnosticable {
and RandomWords will be passed to the T type parameter which has a constraint that T needs to be a subclass of StatefulWidget.
State also has a field and getter where the type parameter is used
T get widget => _widget;
T _widget;
This results in a property of the type of the widget
which provides proper autocompletion and type checks in its subclass RandomWordsState
Assume you have
class RandomWords extends StatefulWidget {
RandomWords({this.fixed});
final WordPair fixed;
#override
createState() => RandomWordsState();
}
class RandomWordsState extends State<RandomWords> {
#override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
// vvvv here we can access `fixed` in a strongly typed manner
final wordPair = widget.fixed ?? WordPair.random();
return Text(wordPair.asPascalCase);
}
}
See also https://www.dartlang.org/guides/language/language-tour#generics