ReferenceManager.java

/*
 * Copyright 2015 the original author or authors.
 *
 * 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 io.atomix.catalyst.util.reference;

/**
 * Reference manager. Manages {@link ReferenceCounted} objects.
 *
 * @author <a href="http://github.com/kuujo">Jordan Halterman</a>
 */
public interface ReferenceManager<T> {

  /**
   * Releases the given reference.
   * <p>
   * This method should be called with a {@link ReferenceCounted} object that contains no
   * additional references. This allows, for instance, pools to recycle dereferenced objects.
   *
   * @param reference The reference to release.
   */
  void release(T reference);

}