title: what can i use as a generic of List so i can change the type within the list in vb.net
body: <p>so i currently have </p>
  
  <pre><code>class general
  private list as List(Of string) 
  
  public overridable function getprivateList as &lt;not sure what to put&gt;
      return list
  end function
  end class
  
  class specific inherits general
  private list as List(Of listofstrings)
  
  end class
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>but I cannot figure out what to use as an interface .
  so that the method getprivateList is able to return both variations of list, depending on the class of implementation.</p>