Generic return value (java)

Question

This works nicely:

// Return all objects with code 'code'.
static List<? extends ICode> getObjects(String code, List<? extends ICode> list)
{
  <ICode> retValue = new ArrayList<ICode>();
  for (ICode item : list)
  { 
    if (item.getCode().equals(code))
    {
        retValue.add(item);
    }
  }
  return retValue;
}

The 'singular' version can be:

// Return the first object found with code 'code'.
static ICode getObject(String code, List<? extends ICode> lijst)
{
  for (ICode item : lijst)
{
     if (item.getCode().equals(code)) return item;
}
return null;
}

But instead of return value ICode I would like return value <? extends ICode>. Can it be done?

See Jon Skeets answer, I now prefer to use the T instead of ? also in the plural version:

// Return all objects with code 'code'.
    public static <T extends ICode> List<T> getObjects(String code, List<T> lijst)
    {
        List<T> retValue = new ArrayList<T>();
        for (T item : lijst)
        {
        if (item.getCode().equals(code))
        {
        retValue.add(item);
        }
      }
      return retValue;
    }

Answer 1

I assume you want it to be the same type as the actual list. In that case, this should do it:

static <T extends ICode> T getObject(String code, List<T> list)
{
  for (T item : list)
  {
     if (item.getCode().equals(code)) return item;
  }
  return null;
}

Answer 2

If you let the return type be ICode then you can return any type that extends ICode.