01: /*
02: * Copyright 2002-2004 The Apache Software Foundation
03: *
04: * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
05: * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
06: * You may obtain a copy of the License at
07: *
08: * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
09: *
10: * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
11: * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
12: * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
13: * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
14: * limitations under the License.
15: */
16: package org.apache.commons.collections;
17:
18: /**
19: * Defines a functor interface implemented by classes that create objects.
20: * <p>
21: * A <code>Factory</code> creates an object without using an input parameter.
22: * If an input parameter is required, then {@link Transformer} is more appropriate.
23: * <p>
24: * Standard implementations of common factories are provided by
25: * {@link FactoryUtils}. These include factories that return a constant,
26: * a copy of a prototype or a new instance.
27: *
28: * @since Commons Collections 2.1
29: * @version $Revision: 155406 $ $Date: 2005-02-26 12:55:26 +0000 (Sat, 26 Feb 2005) $
30: *
31: * @author Arron Bates
32: * @author Stephen Colebourne
33: */
34: public interface Factory {
35:
36: /**
37: * Create a new object.
38: *
39: * @return a new object
40: * @throws FunctorException (runtime) if the factory cannot create an object
41: */
42: public Object create();
43:
44: }
|