What's the meaning of this usage of Java generics?

Question

I'd like to know what the first <T> represents in the following line of Java code. I've read several tutorials on generics but none of the examples have 2 generics before the method name. Thanks.

public <T> Provider<T> scope(Key<T> key, Provider<T> unscoped);

Answer 1

The first <T> is the actual type parameter declaration, ie it says that the method is generic and has a type parameter T .

The second <T> is simply part of the method's return type, ie the method returns a Provider<T> .

If the first <T> were omitted, the return type Provider<T> would be invalid, since T would not be a recognised identifier/name for a type. T is only recognised as a type because the first <T> introduces it as such.