/*
* Copyright (c) 2003, 2005, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
* DO NOT ALTER OR REMOVE COPYRIGHT NOTICES OR THIS FILE HEADER.
*
* This code 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. Oracle designates this
* particular file as subject to the "Classpath" exception as provided
* by Oracle in the LICENSE file that accompanied this code.
*
* This code 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 in the LICENSE file that
* accompanied this code).
*
* 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 Oracle, 500 Oracle Parkway, Redwood Shores, CA 94065 USA
* or visit www.oracle.com if you need additional information or have any
* questions.
*/
package java.lang.reflect;
/** {@collect.stats}
* TypeVariable is the common superinterface for type variables of kinds.
* A type variable is created the first time it is needed by a reflective
* method, as specified in this package. If a type variable t is referenced
* by a type (i.e, class, interface or annotation type) T, and T is declared
* by the nth enclosing class of T (see JLS 8.1.2), then the creation of t
* requires the resolution (see JVMS 5) of the ith enclosing class of T,
* for i = 0 to n, inclusive. Creating a type variable must not cause the
* creation of its bounds. Repeated creation of a type variable has no effect.
*
* <p>Multiple objects may be instantiated at run-time to
* represent a given type variable. Even though a type variable is
* created only once, this does not imply any requirement to cache
* instances representing the type variable. However, all instances
* representing a type variable must be equal() to each other.
* As a consequence, users of type variables must not rely on the identity
* of instances of classes implementing this interface.
*
* @param <D> the type of generic declaration that declared the
* underlying type variable.
*
* @since 1.5
*/
public interface TypeVariable<D extends GenericDeclaration> extends Type {
/** {@collect.stats}
* Returns an array of {@code Type} objects representing the
* upper bound(s) of this type variable. Note that if no upper bound is
* explicitly declared, the upper bound is {@code Object}.
*
* <p>For each upper bound B: <ul> <li>if B is a parameterized
* type or a type variable, it is created, (see {@link
* java.lang.reflect.ParameterizedType ParameterizedType} for the
* details of the creation process for parameterized types).
* <li>Otherwise, B is resolved. </ul>
*
* @throws TypeNotPresentException if any of the
* bounds refers to a non-existent type declaration
* @throws MalformedParameterizedTypeException if any of the
* bounds refer to a parameterized type that cannot be instantiated
* for any reason
* @return an array of {@code Type}s representing the upper
* bound(s) of this type variable
*/
Type[] getBounds();
/** {@collect.stats}
* Returns the {@code GenericDeclaration} object representing the
* generic declaration declared this type variable.
*
* @return the generic declaration declared for this type variable.
*
* @since 1.5
*/
D getGenericDeclaration();
/** {@collect.stats}
* Returns the name of this type variable, as it occurs in the source code.
*
* @return the name of this type variable, as it appears in the source code
*/
String getName();
}