Java tutorial
/* * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more * contributor license agreements. See the NOTICE file distributed with * this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership. * The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0 * (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with * the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at * * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0 * * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and * limitations under the License. */ package org.apache.commons.collections4; /** * Defines a functor interface implemented by classes that create objects. * <p> * A <code>Factory</code> creates an object without using an input parameter. * If an input parameter is required, then {@link Transformer} is more appropriate. * <p> * Standard implementations of common factories are provided by * {@link FactoryUtils}. These include factories that return a constant, * a copy of a prototype or a new instance. * * @param <T> the type that the factory creates * * @since 2.1 * @version $Id: Factory.java 1543256 2013-11-19 00:45:38Z ggregory $ */ public interface Factory<T> { /** * Create a new object. * * @return a new object * @throws FunctorException (runtime) if the factory cannot create an object */ T create(); }