src/share/classes/java/lang/annotation/ElementType.java

rev 8793 : 8027413: Clarify javadoc for j.l.a.Target and j.l.a.ElementType
Reviewed-by: duke

*** 1,7 ****
  /*
!  * Copyright (c) 2003, 2012, 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
--- 1,7 ----
  /*
!  * Copyright (c) 2003, 2013, 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
*** 24,42 ****
   */
  
  package java.lang.annotation;
  
  /**
!  * A program element type.  The constants of this enumerated type
!  * provide a simple classification of the declared elements in a
!  * Java program.
!  *
!  * <p>These constants are used with the {@link Target} meta-annotation type
!  * to specify where it is legal to use an annotation type.
   *
   * @author  Joshua Bloch
   * @since 1.5
   */
  public enum ElementType {
      /** Class, interface (including annotation type), or enum declaration */
      TYPE,
  
--- 24,76 ----
   */
  
  package java.lang.annotation;
  
  /**
!  * The constants of this enumerated type provide a simple classification of the
!  * syntactic locations where annotations may appear in a Java program. These
!  * constants are used in {@link Target java.lang.annotation.Target}
!  * meta-annotations to specify where it is legal to write annotations of a
!  * given type.
!  *
!  * <p>The syntactic locations where annotations may appear are split into
!  * <em>declaration contexts</em> , where annotations apply to declarations, and
!  * <em>type contexts</em> , where annotations apply to types used in
!  * declarations and expressions.
!  *
!  * <p>The constants {@link #ANNOTATION_TYPE} , {@link #CONSTRUCTOR} , {@link
!  * #FIELD} , {@link #LOCAL_VARIABLE} , {@link #METHOD} , {@link #PACKAGE} ,
!  * {@link #PARAMETER} , {@link #TYPE} , and {@link #TYPE_PARAMETER} correspond
!  * to the declaration contexts in JLS 9.6.4.1.
!  *
!  * <p>For example, an annotation whose type is meta-annotated with
!  * {@code @Target(ElementType.FIELD)} may only be written as a modifier for a
!  * field declaration.
!  *
!  * <p>The constant {@link #TYPE_USE} corresponds to the 15 type contexts in JLS
!  * 4.11, as well as to two declaration contexts: type declarations (including
!  * annotation type declarations) and type parameter declarations.
!  *
!  * <p>For example, an annotation whose type is meta-annotated with
!  * {@code @Target(ElementType.TYPE_USE)} may be written on the type of a field
!  * (or within the type of the field, if it is a nested, parameterized, or array
!  * type), and may also appear as a modifier for, say, a class declaration.
!  *
!  * <p>The {@code TYPE_USE} constant includes type declarations and type
!  * parameter declarations as a convenience for designers of type checkers which
!  * give semantics to annotation types. For example, if the annotation type
!  * {@code NonNull} is meta-annotated with
!  * {@code @Target(ElementType.TYPE_USE)}, then {@code @NonNull}
!  * {@code class C {...}} could be treated by a type checker as indicating that
!  * all variables of class {@code C} are non-null, while still allowing
!  * variables of other classes to be non-null or not non-null based on whether
!  * {@code @NonNull} appears at the variable's declaration.
   *
   * @author  Joshua Bloch
   * @since 1.5
+  * @jls 9.6.4.1 @Target
+  * @jls 4.1 The Kinds of Types and Values
   */
  public enum ElementType {
      /** Class, interface (including annotation type), or enum declaration */
      TYPE,