J. Duke | 319a3b9 | 2007-12-01 00:00:00 +0000 | [diff] [blame^] | 1 | /* |
| 2 | * Copyright 2003-2005 Sun Microsystems, Inc. All Rights Reserved. |
| 3 | * DO NOT ALTER OR REMOVE COPYRIGHT NOTICES OR THIS FILE HEADER. |
| 4 | * |
| 5 | * This code is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it |
| 6 | * under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2 only, as |
| 7 | * published by the Free Software Foundation. Sun designates this |
| 8 | * particular file as subject to the "Classpath" exception as provided |
| 9 | * by Sun in the LICENSE file that accompanied this code. |
| 10 | * |
| 11 | * This code is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT |
| 12 | * ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or |
| 13 | * FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License |
| 14 | * version 2 for more details (a copy is included in the LICENSE file that |
| 15 | * accompanied this code). |
| 16 | * |
| 17 | * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License version |
| 18 | * 2 along with this work; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, |
| 19 | * Inc., 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA. |
| 20 | * |
| 21 | * Please contact Sun Microsystems, Inc., 4150 Network Circle, Santa Clara, |
| 22 | * CA 95054 USA or visit www.sun.com if you need additional information or |
| 23 | * have any questions. |
| 24 | */ |
| 25 | |
| 26 | package java.lang.reflect; |
| 27 | |
| 28 | /** |
| 29 | * TypeVariable is the common superinterface for type variables of kinds. |
| 30 | * A type variable is created the first time it is needed by a reflective |
| 31 | * method, as specified in this package. If a type variable t is referenced |
| 32 | * by a type (i.e, class, interface or annotation type) T, and T is declared |
| 33 | * by the nth enclosing class of T (see JLS 8.1.2), then the creation of t |
| 34 | * requires the resolution (see JVMS 5) of the ith enclosing class of T, |
| 35 | * for i = 0 to n, inclusive. Creating a type variable must not cause the |
| 36 | * creation of its bounds. Repeated creation of a type variable has no effect. |
| 37 | * |
| 38 | * <p>Multiple objects may be instantiated at run-time to |
| 39 | * represent a given type variable. Even though a type variable is |
| 40 | * created only once, this does not imply any requirement to cache |
| 41 | * instances representing the type variable. However, all instances |
| 42 | * representing a type variable must be equal() to each other. |
| 43 | * As a consequence, users of type variables must not rely on the identity |
| 44 | * of instances of classes implementing this interface. |
| 45 | * |
| 46 | * @param <D> the type of generic declaration that declared the |
| 47 | * underlying type variable. |
| 48 | * |
| 49 | * @since 1.5 |
| 50 | */ |
| 51 | public interface TypeVariable<D extends GenericDeclaration> extends Type { |
| 52 | /** |
| 53 | * Returns an array of {@code Type} objects representing the |
| 54 | * upper bound(s) of this type variable. Note that if no upper bound is |
| 55 | * explicitly declared, the upper bound is {@code Object}. |
| 56 | * |
| 57 | * <p>For each upper bound B: <ul> <li>if B is a parameterized |
| 58 | * type or a type variable, it is created, (see {@link |
| 59 | * java.lang.reflect.ParameterizedType ParameterizedType} for the |
| 60 | * details of the creation process for parameterized types). |
| 61 | * <li>Otherwise, B is resolved. </ul> |
| 62 | * |
| 63 | * @throws TypeNotPresentException if any of the |
| 64 | * bounds refers to a non-existent type declaration |
| 65 | * @throws MalformedParameterizedTypeException if any of the |
| 66 | * bounds refer to a parameterized type that cannot be instantiated |
| 67 | * for any reason |
| 68 | * @return an array of {@code Type}s representing the upper |
| 69 | * bound(s) of this type variable |
| 70 | */ |
| 71 | Type[] getBounds(); |
| 72 | |
| 73 | /** |
| 74 | * Returns the {@code GenericDeclaration} object representing the |
| 75 | * generic declaration declared this type variable. |
| 76 | * |
| 77 | * @return the generic declaration declared for this type variable. |
| 78 | * |
| 79 | * @since 1.5 |
| 80 | */ |
| 81 | D getGenericDeclaration(); |
| 82 | |
| 83 | /** |
| 84 | * Returns the name of this type variable, as it occurs in the source code. |
| 85 | * |
| 86 | * @return the name of this type variable, as it appears in the source code |
| 87 | */ |
| 88 | String getName(); |
| 89 | } |