Source for java.lang.Cloneable

   1: /* Cloneable.java -- Interface for marking objects cloneable by Object.clone()
   2:    Copyright (C) 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2005  Free Software Foundation, Inc.
   3: 
   4: This file is part of GNU Classpath.
   5: 
   6: GNU Classpath is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
   7: it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
   8: the Free Software Foundation; either version 2, or (at your option)
   9: any later version.
  10: 
  11: GNU Classpath is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
  12: WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
  13: MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
  14: General Public License for more details.
  15: 
  16: You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
  17: along with GNU Classpath; see the file COPYING.  If not, write to the
  18: Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA
  19: 02110-1301 USA.
  20: 
  21: Linking this library statically or dynamically with other modules is
  22: making a combined work based on this library.  Thus, the terms and
  23: conditions of the GNU General Public License cover the whole
  24: combination.
  25: 
  26: As a special exception, the copyright holders of this library give you
  27: permission to link this library with independent modules to produce an
  28: executable, regardless of the license terms of these independent
  29: modules, and to copy and distribute the resulting executable under
  30: terms of your choice, provided that you also meet, for each linked
  31: independent module, the terms and conditions of the license of that
  32: module.  An independent module is a module which is not derived from
  33: or based on this library.  If you modify this library, you may extend
  34: this exception to your version of the library, but you are not
  35: obligated to do so.  If you do not wish to do so, delete this
  36: exception statement from your version. */
  37: 
  38: 
  39: package java.lang;
  40: 
  41: /**
  42:  * This interface should be implemented by classes wishing to
  43:  * support of override <code>Object.clone()</code>.  The default
  44:  * behaviour of <code>clone()</code> performs a shallow copy, but
  45:  * subclasses often change this to perform a deep copy.  Therefore,
  46:  * it is a good idea to document how deep your clone will go.
  47:  * If <code>clone()</code> is called on an object which does not
  48:  * implement this interface, a <code>CloneNotSupportedException</code>
  49:  * will be thrown.
  50:  *
  51:  * <p>This interface is simply a tagging interface; it carries no
  52:  * requirements on methods to implement.  However, it is typical for
  53:  * a Cloneable class to implement at least <code>equals</code>,
  54:  * <code>hashCode</code>, and <code>clone</code>, sometimes
  55:  * increasing the accessibility of clone to be public. The typical
  56:  * implementation of <code>clone</code> invokes <code>super.clone()</code>
  57:  * rather than a constructor, but this is not a requirement.
  58:  *
  59:  * <p>If an object that implement Cloneable should not be cloned,
  60:  * simply override the <code>clone</code> method to throw a
  61:  * <code>CloneNotSupportedException</code>.
  62:  *
  63:  * <p>All array types implement Cloneable, and have a public
  64:  * <code>clone</code> method that will never fail with a
  65:  * <code>CloneNotSupportedException</code>.
  66:  *
  67:  * @author Paul Fisher
  68:  * @author Eric Blake (ebb9@email.byu.edu)
  69:  * @author Warren Levy (warrenl@cygnus.com)
  70:  * @see Object#clone()
  71:  * @see CloneNotSupportedException
  72:  * @since 1.0
  73:  * @status updated to 1.4
  74:  */
  75: public interface Cloneable
  76: {
  77:   // Tagging interface only.
  78: }