title: What does the {}.getType() syntax mean in Gson?
body: <p>In the Gson docs, I ran across this construct to use for converting a list of JSONified Spotify Artist objects back into the ArrayList of objects. I use this in the onRestoreInstanceState(). </p>
  
  <p>However, I have never seen the {} after a declaration. Can someone explain to me what it means? I know that getType() is a member class but why the {}?</p>
  
  <pre><code> Type type = new TypeToken&lt;List&lt;Artist&gt;&gt;() {}.getType();
   mArtistsList = new Gson().fromJson(jsonSearchResults, type);
  </code></pre>