What you're looking for here is abstraction. Code against interfaces more and you should have to do less casting.
The example below is in C# but the concept remains the same.
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Reflection;
namespace GenericsTest
{
class MainClass
{
public static void Main (string[] args)
{
_HasFriends jerry = new Mouse();
jerry.AddFriend("spike", new Dog());
jerry.AddFriend("quacker", new Duck());
jerry.CallFriend<_Animal>("spike").Speak();
jerry.CallFriend<_Animal>("quacker").Speak();
}
}
interface _HasFriends
{
void AddFriend(string name, _Animal animal);
T CallFriend<T>(string name) where T : _Animal;
}
interface _Animal
{
void Speak();
}
abstract class AnimalBase : _Animal, _HasFriends
{
private Dictionary<string, _Animal> friends = new Dictionary<string, _Animal>();
public abstract void Speak();
public void AddFriend(string name, _Animal animal)
{
friends.Add(name, animal);
}
public T CallFriend<T>(string name) where T : _Animal
{
return (T) friends[name];
}
}
class Mouse : AnimalBase
{
public override void Speak() { Squeek(); }
private void Squeek()
{
Console.WriteLine ("Squeek! Squeek!");
}
}
class Dog : AnimalBase
{
public override void Speak() { Bark(); }
private void Bark()
{
Console.WriteLine ("Woof!");
}
}
class Duck : AnimalBase
{
public override void Speak() { Quack(); }
private void Quack()
{
Console.WriteLine ("Quack! Quack!");
}
}
}