/***********************************************************************************************************************
* Copyright (C) 2010-2013 by the Stratosphere project (http://stratosphere.eu)
*
* Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
* the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at
*
* http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
*
* Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software distributed under the License is distributed on
* an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the License for the
* specific language governing permissions and limitations under the License.
**********************************************************************************************************************/
package eu.stratosphere.types;
import java.io.IOException;
import eu.stratosphere.core.memory.DataInputView;
import eu.stratosphere.core.memory.DataOutputView;
/**
* Interface to be implemented by basic types that support to be copied efficiently.
*/
public interface CopyableValue<T> extends Value {
/**
* Gets the length of the data type when it is serialized, in bytes.
*
* @return The length of the data type, or {@code -1}, if variable length.
*/
int getBinaryLength();
void copyTo(T target);
void copy(DataInputView source, DataOutputView target) throws IOException;
}