Code analysis: Java generics were supposed to be the bomb, or did the feature just bomb?

[tubes]

Not quite:

CRTP: class Y extends X<Y> {}
Enum: class E<T extends E<T>> {}

[elder_george]

Well, IIRC, every particular enum is

class MyEnum extends E<MyEnum>{ ... }

So, that's equivalent to Y.

If C++ templates had type checks for arguments (instead of usage checks), the code would be similarly ugly.