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 * Copyright (c) 2003, 2005, 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

 * particular file as subject to the "Classpath" exception as provided

 * by Oracle in the LICENSE file that accompanied this code.

 *

 * This code is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT

 * ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or

 * FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU General Public License

 * version 2 for more details (a copy is included in the LICENSE file that

 * accompanied this code).

 *

 * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License version

 * 2 along with this work; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation,

 * Inc., 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA.

 *

 * Please contact Oracle, 500 Oracle Parkway, Redwood Shores, CA 94065 USA

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 */

package java.lang.reflect;

/**

 * TypeVariable is the common superinterface for type variables of kinds.

 * A type variable is created the first time it is needed by a reflective

 * method, as specified in this package.  If a type variable t is referenced

 * by a type (i.e, class, interface or annotation type) T, and T is declared

 * by the nth enclosing class of T (see JLS 8.1.2), then the creation of t

 * requires the resolution (see JVMS 5) of the ith enclosing class of T,

 * for i = 0 to n, inclusive. Creating a type variable must not cause the

 * creation of its bounds. Repeated creation of a type variable has no effect.

 *

 * <p>Multiple objects may be instantiated at run-time to

 * represent a given type variable. Even though a type variable is

 * created only once, this does not imply any requirement to cache

 * instances representing the type variable. However, all instances

 * representing a type variable must be equal() to each other.

 * As a consequence, users of type variables must not rely on the identity

 * of instances of classes implementing this interface.

 *

 * @param <D> the type of generic declaration that declared the

 * underlying type variable.

 *

 * @since 1.5

 */

public interface TypeVariable<D extends GenericDeclaration> extends Type {

    /**

     * Returns an array of {@code Type} objects representing the

     * upper bound(s) of this type variable.  Note that if no upper bound is

     * explicitly declared, the upper bound is {@code Object}.

     *

     * <p>For each upper bound B: <ul> <li>if B is a parameterized

     * type or a type variable, it is created, (see {@link

     * java.lang.reflect.ParameterizedType ParameterizedType} for the

     * details of the creation process for parameterized types).

     * <li>Otherwise, B is resolved.  </ul>

     *

     * @throws TypeNotPresentException  if any of the

     *     bounds refers to a non-existent type declaration

     * @throws MalformedParameterizedTypeException if any of the

     *     bounds refer to a parameterized type that cannot be instantiated

     *     for any reason

     * @return an array of {@code Type}s representing the upper

     *     bound(s) of this type variable

    */

    Type[] getBounds();

    /**

     * Returns the {@code GenericDeclaration} object representing the

     * generic declaration declared this type variable.

     *

     * @return the generic declaration declared for this type variable.

     *

     * @since 1.5

     */

    D getGenericDeclaration();

    /**

     * Returns the name of this type variable, as it occurs in the source code.

     *

     * @return the name of this type variable, as it appears in the source code

     */

    String getName();

}