dk.rode.thesis.prototype
Interface Copyable<T>

Type Parameters:

T - The type of copyable object.

All Known Subinterfaces:

AspectObservableSequence<O,A,E>, Command<E>, ComparableExpressionBuilder<E>, CompositeSequence<E>, Expression<E>, ExpressionBuilder<E>, InitialisableExpression<E>, MemorizableSequence<E>, NonTerminalExpression<E>, ObservableSequence<O,A,E>, ReversibleSequence<E>, Sequence<E>, SequenceValueGenerator<E>, StateableSequence<E>, StepSequence, StrictCopyable<T>, TerminalExpression<E>, TypedExpression<E>, TypeVisitableSequence<E>, ValueVisitableSequence<E>

All Known Implementing Classes:

AbstractCompositeSequence, AbstractExpression, AbstractExpressionBuilder, AbstractSequence, AbstractStateableSequence, AbstractVisitableSequence, AckermannSequence, AndExpression, AnnotatedObserversSequence, AnnotatedObserversSequenceDecorator, AppenderDecorator, ArraySequence, AssignmentExpression, BinaryExpression, BreakExpression, CharSequenceCompositeSequence, CompareExpression, CompositeCommand, ConditionalExpression, ConstantExpression, CountdownSequence, CountingComparableExpressionBuilder, CountingExpressionBuilder, CurrentExpression, DanishAlphabetSequence, DateSequence, DateValuedVisitableSequence, DigitSequence, DuplexDecorator, EnglishAlphabetSequence, EqualExpression, EvenSequence, EvilCommand, FibonacciSequence, FileSequence, FlowExpression, HexDigitSequence, ImmutableSequence, IntegerValuedVisitableSequence, IterableSequence, LogCommand, LongSequence, MemorizableEnglishAlphabetSequence, MemorizableSequenceAbstraction, MutatedSimpsonsFamilySequence, NegativeSequence, NextCommand, NextExpression, NonResettableSequence, NorwegianAlphabetSequence, NotExpression, NullCommand, OddSequence, OrExpression, PrimeSequence, ProcessableSequence, RandomSequence, RangeSequence, ReflectiveVisitableSequence, ResetCommand, ResetExpression, ReverseCommand, ReverseExpression, ReversiblePrimeSequence, Sentence, SequenceAbstraction, SequenceAdapter, SequenceCommand, SequenceDecorator, SequenceExpression, SequenceObserversSequence, SequenceObserversSequenceDecorator, SequenceTemplate, SequenceValueArrayList, SequenceValueCollection, SequenceValueHashSet, SequenceValueLinkedHashSet, SequenceValueRange, SequenceValueSet, SequenceValueTreeSet, SetExpression, SimpsonsAndBouvierFamilySequence, SimpsonsFamilySequence, SmileySequence, StandardComparableExpressionBuilder, StandardExpressionBuilder, StepSequenceImpl, StringValuedVisitableSequence, SymbolSequence, SynchronisedSequence, SynchronisedSequenceAbstraction, TypedComparableExpressionBuilder, TypedExpressionBuilder, TypedExpressionDecorator, TypedFlowExpression, UnboundedRandomSequence, UppercaseDecorator, VariableExpression, VisitableCompositeSequence, VisitableLongSequence, VisitableRandomSequence, VisitableReversiblePrimeSequence, Word, ZipSequence

@Participant(value="Prototype")
public interface Copyable<T>

A copyable object can return a deep copy of it self any type implementing this interface can act as a prototype.

Though not required, it is prudent to supply a copy constructor for any type implementing the Copyable interface.

Implementation notes:
The Copyable interface is generic, accepting the type parameter T that determines the type of the returned copy. The type parameter is used for type safety reasons (as opposed to simply returning Object). Though it cannot be enforced, T is expected to be the implementing type itself. If a bound like <T extends Copyable<T>> had been used instead of just T, the PrototypeFactory would not have been able to generate dynamic proxies to represent prototypical objects that dynamically implements Copyable for any object type: the original type(s) could not be guaranteed to satisfy the extends Copyable bound. If such a bound is to be enforced, the StrictCopyable type can be used.

Sub-interfaces can use covariant return types to refine the type of the returned copy even further. This is sometimes even required. An example of this is the Expression and TypedExpression interfaces used in the Interpreter pattern. TypedExpression extends Expression to augment normal expressions with runtime type information. If it had not overridden the copy() method from Expression that returns an Expression, copying a TypedExpression would return an Expression, not a TypedExpression. Hence, the compile-time behaviour of TypedExpression is not accessible without explicit casting if copied. By declaring the copy() method to return a TypedExpression no casting is required.

Author:

Gunni Rode / rode.dk

See Also:

PrototypeFactory

Method Summary

T	copy() Returns a deep copy of this object.

Method Detail

copy

T copy()

Returns a deep copy of this object.

Returns:

The copy; never null.