001 /* TypeVariable.java
002 Copyright (C) 2004 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
003
004 This file is part of GNU Classpath.
005
006 GNU Classpath is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
007 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
008 the Free Software Foundation; either version 2, or (at your option)
009 any later version.
010
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012 WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
013 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU
014 General Public License for more details.
015
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017 along with GNU Classpath; see the file COPYING. If not, write to the
018 Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA
019 02110-1301 USA.
020
021 Linking this library statically or dynamically with other modules is
022 making a combined work based on this library. Thus, the terms and
023 conditions of the GNU General Public License cover the whole
024 combination.
025
026 As a special exception, the copyright holders of this library give you
027 permission to link this library with independent modules to produce an
028 executable, regardless of the license terms of these independent
029 modules, and to copy and distribute the resulting executable under
030 terms of your choice, provided that you also meet, for each linked
031 independent module, the terms and conditions of the license of that
032 module. An independent module is a module which is not derived from
033 or based on this library. If you modify this library, you may extend
034 this exception to your version of the library, but you are not
035 obligated to do so. If you do not wish to do so, delete this
036 exception statement from your version. */
037
038
039 package java.lang.reflect;
040
041 /**
042 * <p>
043 * This is a common interface for all type variables provided by
044 * the Java language. Instances are created the first time a type
045 * variable is needed by one of the reflective methods declared in
046 * this package.
047 * </p>
048 * <p>
049 * Creating a type variable requires resolving the appropriate type.
050 * This may involve resolving other classes as a side effect (e.g.
051 * if the type is nested inside other classes). Creation should not
052 * involve resolving the bounds. Repeated creation has no effect; an
053 * equivalent instance is returned. Caching is not required, but all
054 * instances must be <code>equal()</code> to each other.
055 * </p>
056 *
057 * @author Tom Tromey (tromey@redhat.com)
058 * @author Andrew John Hughes (gnu_andrew@member.fsf.org)
059 * @since 1.5
060 */
061 public interface TypeVariable<T extends GenericDeclaration> extends Type
062 {
063
064 /**
065 * Returns an array of <code>Type</code> objects which represent the upper
066 * bounds of this type variable. There is always a default bound of
067 * <code>Object</code>. Any <code>ParameterizedType</code>s will be
068 * created as necessary, and other types resolved.
069 *
070 * @return an array of <code>Type</code> objects representing the upper
071 * bounds.
072 * @throws TypeNotPresentException if any of the bounds refer to a
073 * non-existant type.
074 * @throws MalformedParameterizedTypeException if the creation of a
075 * <code>ParameterizedType</code> fails.
076 */
077 Type[] getBounds();
078
079
080 /**
081 * Returns a representation of the declaration used to declare this
082 * type variable.
083 *
084 * @return the <code>GenericDeclaration</code> object for this type
085 * variable.
086 */
087 T getGenericDeclaration();
088
089 /**
090 * Returns the name of the type variable, as written in the source
091 * code.
092 *
093 * @return the name of the type variable.
094 */
095 String getName();
096 }