Home | History | Annotate | Download | only in lang
      1 /*
      2  * Copyright (c) 2010, 2011, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
      3  * DO NOT ALTER OR REMOVE COPYRIGHT NOTICES OR THIS FILE HEADER.
      4  *
      5  * This code is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
      6  * under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2 only, as
      7  * published by the Free Software Foundation.  Oracle designates this
      8  * particular file as subject to the "Classpath" exception as provided
      9  * by Oracle in the LICENSE file that accompanied this code.
     10  *
     11  * This code is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT
     12  * ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or
     13  * FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU General Public License
     14  * version 2 for more details (a copy is included in the LICENSE file that
     15  * accompanied this code).
     16  *
     17  * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License version
     18  * 2 along with this work; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation,
     19  * Inc., 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA.
     20  *
     21  * Please contact Oracle, 500 Oracle Parkway, Redwood Shores, CA 94065 USA
     22  * or visit www.oracle.com if you need additional information or have any
     23  * questions.
     24  */
     25 
     26 package java.lang;
     27 
     28 import java.lang.annotation.*;
     29 
     30 /**
     31  * A programmer assertion that the body of the annotated method or
     32  * constructor does not perform potentially unsafe operations on its
     33  * varargs parameter.  Applying this annotation to a method or
     34  * constructor suppresses unchecked warnings about a
     35  * <i>non-reifiable</i> variable arity (vararg) type and suppresses
     36  * unchecked warnings about parameterized array creation at call
     37  * sites.
     38  *
     39  * <p> In addition to the usage restrictions imposed by its {@link
     40  * Target @Target} meta-annotation, compilers are required to implement
     41  * additional usage restrictions on this annotation type; it is a
     42  * compile-time error if a method or constructor declaration is
     43  * annotated with a {@code @SafeVarargs} annotation, and either:
     44  * <ul>
     45  * <li>  the declaration is a fixed arity method or constructor
     46  *
     47  * <li> the declaration is a variable arity method that is neither
     48  * {@code static} nor {@code final}.
     49  *
     50  * </ul>
     51  *
     52  * <p> Compilers are encouraged to issue warnings when this annotation
     53  * type is applied to a method or constructor declaration where:
     54  *
     55  * <ul>
     56  *
     57  * <li> The variable arity parameter has a reifiable element type,
     58  * which includes primitive types, {@code Object}, and {@code String}.
     59  * (The unchecked warnings this annotation type suppresses already do
     60  * not occur for a reifiable element type.)
     61  *
     62  * <li> The body of the method or constructor declaration performs
     63  * potentially unsafe operations, such as an assignment to an element
     64  * of the variable arity parameter's array that generates an unchecked
     65  * warning.  Some unsafe operations do not trigger an unchecked
     66  * warning.  For example, the aliasing in
     67  *
     68  * <blockquote><pre>
     69  * &#64;SafeVarargs // Not actually safe!
     70  * static void m(List&lt;String&gt;... stringLists) {
     71  *   Object[] array = stringLists;
     72  *   List&lt;Integer&gt; tmpList = Arrays.asList(42);
     73  *   array[0] = tmpList; // Semantically invalid, but compiles without warnings
     74  *   String s = stringLists[0].get(0); // Oh no, ClassCastException at runtime!
     75  * }
     76  * </pre></blockquote>
     77  *
     78  * leads to a {@code ClassCastException} at runtime.
     79  *
     80  * <p>Future versions of the platform may mandate compiler errors for
     81  * such unsafe operations.
     82  *
     83  * </ul>
     84  *
     85  * @jls 4.7 Reifiable Types
     86  * @jls 8.4.1 Formal Parameters
     87  */
     88 @Documented
     89 @Retention(RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME)
     90 @Target({ElementType.CONSTRUCTOR, ElementType.METHOD})
     91 public @interface SafeVarargs {}
     92