/*
* @(#)Serializable.java 1.24 06/10/10
*
* Copyright 1990-2008 Sun Microsystems, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
* DO NOT ALTER OR REMOVE COPYRIGHT NOTICES OR THIS FILE HEADER
*
* This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
* modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License version
* 2 only, as published by the Free Software Foundation.
*
* This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
* WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
* MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU
* General Public License version 2 for more details (a copy is
* included at /legal/license.txt).
*
* You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
* version 2 along with this work; if not, write to the Free Software
* Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA
* 02110-1301 USA
*
* Please contact Sun Microsystems, Inc., 4150 Network Circle, Santa
* Clara, CA 95054 or visit www.sun.com if you need additional
* information or have any questions.
*
*/
package java.io;
/**
* Serializability of a class is enabled by the class implementing the
* java.io.Serializable interface. Classes that do not implement this
* interface will not have any of their state serialized or
* deserialized. All subtypes of a serializable class are themselves
* serializable. The serialization interface has no methods or fields
* and serves only to identify the semantics of being serializable. <p>
*
* To allow subtypes of non-serializable classes to be serialized, the
* subtype may assume responsibility for saving and restoring the
* state of the supertype's public, protected, and (if accessible)
* package fields. The subtype may assume this responsibility only if
* the class it extends has an accessible no-arg constructor to
* initialize the class's state. It is an error to declare a class
* Serializable if this is not the case. The error will be detected at runtime. <p>
*
* During deserialization, the fields of non-serializable classes will
* be initialized using the public or protected no-arg constructor of
* the class. A no-arg constructor must be accessible to the subclass
* that is serializable. The fields of serializable subclasses will
* be restored from the stream. <p>
*
* When traversing a graph, an object may be encountered that does not
* support the Serializable interface. In this case the
* NotSerializableException will be thrown and will identify the class
* of the non-serializable object. <p>
*
* Classes that require special handling during the serialization and
* deserialization process must implement special methods with these exact
* signatures: <p>
*
* <PRE>
* private void writeObject(java.io.ObjectOutputStream out)
* throws IOException
* private void readObject(java.io.ObjectInputStream in)
* throws IOException, ClassNotFoundException;
* </PRE><p>
*
* The writeObject method is responsible for writing the state of the
* object for its particular class so that the corresponding
* readObject method can restore it. The default mechanism for saving
* the Object's fields can be invoked by calling
* out.defaultWriteObject. The method does not need to concern
* itself with the state belonging to its superclasses or subclasses.
* State is saved by writing the individual fields to the
* ObjectOutputStream using the writeObject method or by using the
* methods for primitive data types supported by DataOutput. <p>
*
* The readObject method is responsible for reading from the stream and
* restoring the classes fields. It may call in.defaultReadObject to invoke
* the default mechanism for restoring the object's non-static and non-transient
* fields. The defaultReadObject method uses information in the stream to
* assign the fields of the object saved in the stream with the correspondingly
* named fields in the current object. This handles the case when the class
* has evolved to add new fields. The method does not need to concern
* itself with the state belonging to its superclasses or subclasses.
* State is saved by writing the individual fields to the
* ObjectOutputStream using the writeObject method or by using the
* methods for primitive data types supported by DataOutput. <p>
*
* Serializable classes that need to designate an alternative object to be
* used when writing an object to the stream should implement this
* special method with the exact signature: <p>
*
* <PRE>
* ANY-ACCESS-MODIFIER Object writeReplace() throws ObjectStreamException;
* </PRE><p>
*
* This writeReplace method is invoked by serialization if the method
* exists and it would be accessible from a method defined within the
* class of the object being serialized. Thus, the method can have private,
* protected and package-private access. Subclass access to this method
* follows java accessibility rules. <p>
*
* Classes that need to designate a replacement when an instance of it
* is read from the stream should implement this special method with the
* exact signature.<p>
*
* <PRE>
* ANY-ACCESS-MODIFIER Object readResolve() throws ObjectStreamException;
* </PRE><p>
*
* This readResolve method follows the same invocation rules and
* accessibility rules as writeReplace.
*
* @author unascribed
* @version 1.17, 05/03/00
* @see java.io.ObjectOutputStream
* @see java.io.ObjectInputStream
* @see java.io.ObjectOutput
* @see java.io.ObjectInput
* @see java.io.Externalizable
* @since JDK1.1
*/
public interface Serializable {
}