Thanks for your reply. I am still not sure I get it.

Hashtable<String, NodeAddress>[] cache = new Hashtable;
cache[0] = new Hashtable<String, NodeAddress>();
cache[1] = new Hashtable<String, NodeAddress>();
cache[2] = new Hashtable<String, NodeAddress>();

This compiles with warnings since the type of the type of the
Hashtable array is not set correctly, "Uses unsafe operations...".

My experience with the type stuff in Java is a bit rusty. Sorry.

Replacing in the above code:
Hashtable<String, NodeAddress>[] cache = new Hashtable;
with:
Hashtable<String, NodeAddress>[] cache = new Hashtable<String,
NodeAddress>[3];
blows up with "generic array creation"

How can I do it properly?

Jon.

How about actually *citing* the error message?

I guess that means you can't create a generic array.

Could that be?  Could the error message actually have already answered your
question?

Let's research:
<http://java.sun.com/docs/books/jls/third_edition/html/arrays.html#10.3>

<http://java.sun.com/docs/books/jls/third_edition/html/typesValues.html#4.7>

So the answer is, no, you cannot do that.

Anyway, arrays and generics don't play well together.  Make a List of Maps
instead.

Additionally, I suggest using HashMap instead of Hashtable, and declaring the
variable in terms of List <Map> rather than a concrete type.

 private List <Map <String, Foo>> cache
       = new ArrayList <Map <String, Foo>> ();
 {
   cache.add( new HashMap <String, Foo> ());
   cache.add( new HashMap <String, Foo> ());
 }