001/* Copyright (C) 2013 TU Dortmund 002 * This file is part of AutomataLib, http://www.automatalib.net/. 003 * 004 * AutomataLib is free software; you can redistribute it and/or 005 * modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public 006 * License version 3.0 as published by the Free Software Foundation. 007 * 008 * AutomataLib is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, 009 * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of 010 * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU 011 * Lesser General Public License for more details. 012 * 013 * You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public 014 * License along with AutomataLib; if not, see 015 * http://www.gnu.de/documents/lgpl.en.html. 016 */ 017package net.automatalib.commons.util.ref; 018 019import java.lang.ref.WeakReference; 020 021 022/** 023 * An abstraction for (weak or strong) references. 024 * 025 * This class allows for treating normal ("strong") references the same way 026 * as {@link WeakReference}s. 027 * 028 * @author Malte Isberner <malte.isberner@cs.uni-dortmund.de> 029 * 030 * @param <T> referent class. 031 */ 032public interface Ref<T> { 033 /** 034 * Retrieves the referent. In case of {@link WeakRef}s, the return value 035 * may become <code>null</code>. 036 * @return the referent. 037 */ 038 public T get(); 039}