one.microstream.util

Interface Cloneable<S>

public interface Cloneable<S>

Method Summary

Modifier and Type	Method and Description
default S	Clone() This method creates a new instance of the same Class, specified by <S>, of the instance on which this method is called.

Method Detail

Clone

default S Clone()

This method creates a new instance of the same Class, specified by <S>, of the instance on which this method is called. Whatever initializations required to create a functional new instance are performed.

However, this method does NOT create a copy of the current instance. (A common mistake is to confuse cloning with copying: cloning creates a duplicate with only equal initial state while copying creates a duplicate with equal full state. Example: a clone of an adult would not be an identical adult, but just an embryo with equal DNA. A state-wise identical adult would be a copy, not a clone.)

This method is effectively a constructor called on an existing instance. The use case of such a method is to eliminate the need to redundantly pass a second instance or constructor if a clone of an instance is needed.

To indicate the constructor-like character of this method, the pattern of starting the name with a capital letter is applied to this method (and to workaround the botch-job protected method the JDK developers hardcoded in Object.)

Returns:

a clone of this instance.