001/* 002 * Copyright 2013 Chris Pheby 003 * 004 * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); 005 * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License. 006 * You may obtain a copy of the License at 007 * 008 * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0 009 * 010 * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software 011 * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, 012 * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. 013 * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and 014 * limitations under the License. 015 */ 016package org.jadira.reflection.cloning.api; 017 018 019/** 020 * A Cloner represents the capability for Cloning. Its the interface via which users of the library 021 * in general will interact with it. 022 */ 023public interface Cloner { 024 025 /** 026 * Clones the supplied object 027 * @param obj The object 028 * @param <T> The class of the object to be cloned 029 * @return A clone of the object 030 */ 031 <T> T clone(T obj); 032 033 /** 034 * This method is included simply so that cold starts can be avoided. The method performs any 035 * initialisation needed in order to be able to subsequently process the class. If it is not 036 * called ahead of time the initialisation will be performed as part of the cloning operation. 037 * You only need to use this method in situations where a cold start is unacceptable 038 * @param classes Classes to perform initialisation for. 039 */ 040 public void initialiseFor(Class<?> classes); 041}