1 /*
   2  * Copyright 2005-2006 Sun Microsystems, Inc.  All Rights Reserved.
   3  * DO NOT ALTER OR REMOVE COPYRIGHT NOTICES OR THIS FILE HEADER.
   4  *
   5  * This code is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
   6  * under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2 only, as
   7  * published by the Free Software Foundation.  Sun designates this
   8  * particular file as subject to the "Classpath" exception as provided
   9  * by Sun in the LICENSE file that accompanied this code.
  10  *
  11  * This code is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT
  12  * ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or
  13  * FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU General Public License
  14  * version 2 for more details (a copy is included in the LICENSE file that
  15  * accompanied this code).
  16  *
  17  * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License version
  18  * 2 along with this work; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation,
  19  * Inc., 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA.
  20  *
  21  * Please contact Sun Microsystems, Inc., 4150 Network Circle, Santa Clara,
  22  * CA 95054 USA or visit www.sun.com if you need additional information or
  23  * have any questions.
  24  */
  25 
  26 /**
  27  * Interfaces used to model elements of the Java programming language.
  28  *
  29  * The term "element" in this package is used to refer to program
  30  * elements, the declared entities that make up a program.  Elements
  31  * include classes, interfaces, methods, constructors, and fields.
  32  * The interfaces in this package do not model the structure of a
  33  * program inside a method body; for example there is no
  34  * representation of a {@code for} loop or {@code try}-{@code finally}
  35  * block.  However, the interfaces can model some structures only
  36  * appearing inside method bodies, such as local variables and
  37  * anonymous classes.
  38  *
  39  * <p>When used in the context of annotation processing, an accurate
  40  * model of the element being represented must be returned.  As this
  41  * is a language model, the source code provides the fiducial
  42  * (reference) representation of the construct in question rather than
  43  * a representation in an executable output like a class file.
  44  * Executable output may serve as the basis for creating a modeling
  45  * element.  However, the process of translating source code to
  46  * executable output may not permit recovering some aspects of the
  47  * source code representation.  For example, annotations with
  48  * {@linkplain java.lang.annotation.RetentionPolicy#SOURCE source}
  49  * {@linkplain java.lang.annotation.Retention retention} cannot be
  50  * recovered from class files and class files might not be able to
  51  * provide source position information.  The {@linkplain
  52  * javax.lang.model.element.Modifier modifiers} on an element may
  53  * differ in some cases including
  54  *
  55  * <ul>
  56  * <li> {@code strictfp} on a class or interface
  57  * <li> {@code final} on a parameter
  58  * <li> {@code protected}, {@code private}, and {@code static} on classes and interfaces
  59  * </ul>
  60  *
  61  * Additionally, synthetic constructs in a class file, such as
  62  * accessor methods used in implementing nested classes and bridge
  63  * methods used in implementing covariant returns, are translation
  64  * artifacts outside of this model.
  65  *
  66  * <p>During annotation processing, operating on incomplete or
  67  * erroneous programs is necessary; however, there are fewer
  68  * guarantees about the nature of the resulting model.  If the source
  69  * code is not syntactically well-formed, a model may or may not be
  70  * provided as a quality of implementation issue.  If a program is
  71  * syntactically valid but erroneous in some other fashion, the
  72  * returned model must have no less information than if all the method
  73  * bodies in the program were replaced by {@code "throw new
  74  * RuntimeException();"}.  If a program refers to a missing type XYZ,
  75  * the returned model must contain no less information than if the
  76  * declaration of type XYZ were assumed to be {@code "class XYZ {}"},
  77  * {@code "interface XYZ {}"}, {@code "enum XYZ {}"}, or {@code
  78  * "@interface XYZ {}"}. If a program refers to a missing type {@code
  79  * XYZ<K1, ... ,Kn>}, the returned model must contain no less
  80  * information than if the declaration of XYZ were assumed to be
  81  * {@code "class XYZ<T1, ... ,Tn> {}"} or {@code "interface XYZ<T1,
  82  * ... ,Tn> {}"}
  83  *
  84  * <p> Unless otherwise specified in a particular implementation, the
  85  * collections returned by methods in this package should be expected
  86  * to be unmodifiable by the caller and unsafe for concurrent access.
  87  *
  88  * <p> Unless otherwise specified, methods in this package will throw
  89  * a {@code NullPointerException} if given a {@code null} argument.
  90  *
  91  * @author Joseph D. Darcy
  92  * @author Scott Seligman
  93  * @author Peter von der Ah&eacute;
  94  * @since 1.6
  95  */
  96 package javax.lang.model.element;