/*
* @(#)Serializable.java 1.22 03/12/19
*
* Copyright 2004 Sun Microsystems, Inc. All rights reserved.
* SUN PROPRIETARY/CONFIDENTIAL. Use is subject to license terms.
*/
package java.io;
/**
* Serializability of a class is enabled by the class implementing the
* java.io.Serializable interface. Classes that do not implement this
* interface will not have any of their state serialized or
* deserialized. All subtypes of a serializable class are themselves
* serializable. The serialization interface has no methods or fields
* and serves only to identify the semantics of being serializable. <p>
*
* To allow subtypes of non-serializable classes to be serialized, the
* subtype may assume responsibility for saving and restoring the
* state of the supertype's public, protected, and (if accessible)
* package fields. The subtype may assume this responsibility only if
* the class it extends has an accessible no-arg constructor to
* initialize the class's state. It is an error to declare a class
* Serializable if this is not the case. The error will be detected at runtime. <p>
*
* During deserialization, the fields of non-serializable classes will
* be initialized using the public or protected no-arg constructor of
* the class. A no-arg constructor must be accessible to the subclass
* that is serializable. The fields of serializable subclasses will
* be restored from the stream. <p>
*
* When traversing a graph, an object may be encountered that does not
* support the Serializable interface. In this case the
* NotSerializableException will be thrown and will identify the class
* of the non-serializable object. <p>
*
* Classes that require special handling during the serialization and
* deserialization process must implement special methods with these exact
* signatures: <p>
*
* <PRE>
* private void writeObject(java.io.ObjectOutputStream out)
* throws IOException
* private void readObject(java.io.ObjectInputStream in)
* throws IOException, ClassNotFoundException;
* </PRE><p>
*
* The writeObject method is responsible for writing the state of the
* object for its particular class so that the corresponding
* readObject method can restore it. The default mechanism for saving
* the Object's fields can be invoked by calling
* out.defaultWriteObject. The method does not need to concern
* itself with the state belonging to its superclasses or subclasses.
* State is saved by writing the individual fields to the
* ObjectOutputStream using the writeObject method or by using the
* methods for primitive data types supported by DataOutput. <p>
*
* The readObject method is responsible for reading from the stream and
* restoring the classes fields. It may call in.defaultReadObject to invoke
* the default mechanism for restoring the object's non-static and non-transient
* fields. The defaultReadObject method uses information in the stream to
* assign the fields of the object saved in the stream with the correspondingly
* named fields in the current object. This handles the case when the class
* has evolved to add new fields. The method does not need to concern
* itself with the state belonging to its superclasses or subclasses.
* State is saved by writing the individual fields to the
* ObjectOutputStream using the writeObject method or by using the
* methods for primitive data types supported by DataOutput. <p>
*
* Serializable classes that need to designate an alternative object to be
* used when writing an object to the stream should implement this
* special method with the exact signature: <p>
*
* <PRE>
* ANY-ACCESS-MODIFIER Object writeReplace() throws ObjectStreamException;
* </PRE><p>
*
* This writeReplace method is invoked by serialization if the method
* exists and it would be accessible from a method defined within the
* class of the object being serialized. Thus, the method can have private,
* protected and package-private access. Subclass access to this method
* follows java accessibility rules. <p>
*
* Classes that need to designate a replacement when an instance of it
* is read from the stream should implement this special method with the
* exact signature.<p>
*
* <PRE>
* ANY-ACCESS-MODIFIER Object readResolve() throws ObjectStreamException;
* </PRE><p>
*
* This readResolve method follows the same invocation rules and
* accessibility rules as writeReplace.<p>
*
* The serialization runtime associates with each serializable class a version
* number, called a serialVersionUID, which is used during deserialization to
* verify that the sender and receiver of a serialized object have loaded
* classes for that object that are compatible with respect to serialization.
* If the receiver has loaded a class for the object that has a different
* serialVersionUID than that of the corresponding sender's class, then
* deserialization will result in an {@link InvalidClassException}. A
* serializable class can declare its own serialVersionUID explicitly by
* declaring a field named <code>"serialVersionUID"</code> that must be static,
* final, and of type <code>long</code>:<p>
*
* <PRE>
* ANY-ACCESS-MODIFIER static final long serialVersionUID = 42L;
* </PRE>
*
* If a serializable class does not explicitly declare a serialVersionUID, then
* the serialization runtime will calculate a default serialVersionUID value
* for that class based on various aspects of the class, as described in the
* Java(TM) Object Serialization Specification. However, it is <em>strongly
* recommended</em> that all serializable classes explicitly declare
* serialVersionUID values, since the default serialVersionUID computation is
* highly sensitive to class details that may vary depending on compiler
* implementations, and can thus result in unexpected
* <code>InvalidClassException</code>s during deserialization. Therefore, to
* guarantee a consistent serialVersionUID value across different java compiler
* implementations, a serializable class must declare an explicit
* serialVersionUID value. It is also strongly advised that explicit
* serialVersionUID declarations use the <code>private</code> modifier where
* possible, since such declarations apply only to the immediately declaring
* class--serialVersionUID fields are not useful as inherited members.
*
* @author unascribed
* @version 1.22, 12/19/03
* @see java.io.ObjectOutputStream
* @see java.io.ObjectInputStream
* @see java.io.ObjectOutput
* @see java.io.ObjectInput
* @see java.io.Externalizable
* @since JDK1.1
*/
public interface Serializable {
}
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