Generics aren't necessary at all, but they are a powerful addition to the means of expression a language offers and have use cases beyond collections. So while

Generics aren't necessary at all, but they are a powerful addition to the means of expression a language offers and have use cases beyond collections. So while it's not a deal breaker, it's definitely sad and hard to understand why they left them out. Especially when you know Java's history and the pain they went through when they finally added generics.