Why does Java allow calling methods with type arguments that have no type parameters?

I recently learned that you can call a method that has no type parameter with arbitrary type arguments. Consider the following code:

public class Test {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        Test.foo();                         // d'uh
        Test.<Integer>foo();                // yep
        Test.<String, Integer, Float>foo(); // yep!
    }

    static void foo() { }
}

      

        
        
        
      

    

Now there are many things that are technically allowed by the grammar, but create compiler errors. Why is it slipping?

Also interesting: calling a method like this generates an alert in Eclipse, but javac

doesn't say anyting even with -Xlint

.