[echelon]

Aren't collections 30% - 40% of code? (We seldom deal with just one thing.)

That's why I feel generics are so important.

You can build complicated messes with any programming paradigm. It's a matter of discipline to use the tool correctly. Don't hate on generics, but rather the unskilled use of them (which I frankly see far less than abuse of other patterns/paradigms/language features).

The biggest negative with generics is compile time, but the clarity and conciseness of generics is worth it for me.