Serializable.java

/*
 * @(#)Serializable.java	1.7 98/07/01
 *
 * Copyright 1995-1998 by Sun Microsystems, Inc.,
 * 901 San Antonio Road, Palo Alto, California, 94303, U.S.A.
 * All rights reserved.
 * 
 * This software is the confidential and proprietary information
 * of Sun Microsystems, Inc. ("Confidential Information").  You
 * shall not disclose such Confidential Information and shall use
 * it only in accordance with the terms of the license agreement
 * you entered into with Sun.
 */

package java.io;

/**
 * Serializability of a class is enabled by the class implementing the
 * java.io.Serializable interface. Classes that do not implement this
 * interface will not have any of their state serialized or
 * deserialized.  All subtypes of a serializable class are themselves
 * serializable.  The serialization interface has no methods or fields
 * and serves only to identify the semantics of being serializable. <p>
 * 
 * To allow subtypes of non-serializable classes to be serialized, the
 * subtype may assume responsibility for saving and restoring the
 * state of the supertype's public, protected, and (if accessible)
 * package fields.  The subtype may assume this responsibility only if
 * the class it extends has an accessible no-arg constructor to
 * initialize the class's state.  It is an error to declare a class
 * Serializable in this case.  The error will be detected at runtime. <p>
 * 
 * During deserialization, the fields of non-serializable classes will
 * be initialized using the public or protected no-arg constructor of
 * the class.  A no-arg constructor must be accessible to the subclass
 * that is serializable.  The fields of serializable subclasses will
 * be restored from the stream. <p>
 *
 * When traversing a graph, an object may be encountered that does not
 * support the Serializable interface. In this case the
 * NotSerializableException will be thrown and will identify the class
 * of the non-serializable object. <p>
 *
 * Classes that require special handling during the serialization and deserialization
 * process must implement special methods with these exact signatures: <p>
 *
 * <PRE>
 * private void writeObject(java.io.ObjectOutputStream out)
 *     throws IOException
 * private void readObject(java.io.ObjectInputStream in)
 *     throws IOException, ClassNotFoundException; 
 * </PRE><p>

 * The writeObject method is responsible for writing the state of the
 * object for its particular class so that the corresponding
 * readObject method can restore it.  The default mechanism for saving
 * the Object's fields can be invoked by calling
 * out.defaultWriteObject. The method does not need to concern
 * itself with the state belonging to its superclasses or subclasses.
 * State is saved by writing the individual fields to the
 * ObjectOutputStream using the writeObject method or by using the
 * methods for primitive data types supported by DataOutput. <p>

 * The readObject method is responsible for reading from the stream and restoring
 * the classes fields. It may call in.defaultReadObject to invoke
 * the default mechanism for restoring the object's non-static and non-transient
 * fields.  The defaultReadObject method uses information in the stream to
 * assign the fields of the object saved in the stream with the correspondingly
 * named fields in the current object.  This handles the case when the class
 * has evolved to add new fields. The method does not need to concern
 * itself with the state belonging to its superclasses or subclasses.
 * State is saved by writing the individual fields to the
 * ObjectOutputStream using the writeObject method or by using the
 * methods for primitive data types supported by DataOutput. <p>
 *
 * @author  unascribed
 * @version 1.7, 07/01/98
 * @see java.io.ObjectOutputStream
 * @see java.io.ObjectInputStream
 * @see java.io.ObjectOutput
 * @see java.io.ObjectInput
 * @see java.io.Externalizable
 * @since   JDK1.1
 */
public interface Serializable {
}