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 * 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 com.sun.javadoc;

/**

 * Represents a type.  A type can be a class or interface, an

 * invocation (like {@code List<String>}) of a generic class or interface,

 *

 * @since 1.2

 * @author Kaiyang Liu (original)

 * @author Robert Field (rewrite)

 * @author Scott Seligman (generics)

 */

public interface Type {

    /**

     * Return unqualified name of type excluding any dimension information.

     * <p>

     * For example, a two dimensional array of String returns

     */

    String typeName();

    /**

     * Return qualified name of type excluding any dimension information.

     *<p>

     * For example, a two dimensional array of String

     */

    String qualifiedTypeName();

    /**

     * Return the simple name of this type excluding any dimension information.

     * This is the unqualified name of the type, except that for nested types

     * only the identifier of the innermost type is included.

     * <p>

     * For example, the class {@code Outer.Inner} returns

     *

     * @since 1.5

     */

    String simpleTypeName();

    /**

     * Return the type's dimension information, as a string.

     * <p>

     * For example, a two dimensional array of String returns

     */

    String dimension();

    /**

     * Return a string representation of the type.

     * This includes any dimension information and type arguments.

     * <p>

     * For example, a two dimensional array of String may return

     * and the parameterized type {@code List<Integer>} may return

     * "{@code java.util.List<java.lang.Integer>}".

     *

     * @return a string representation of the type.

     */

    String toString();

    /**

     * Return true if this type represents a primitive type.

     *

     * @return true if this type represents a primitive type.

     * @since 1.5

     */

    boolean isPrimitive();

    /**

     * or interface.  Array dimensions are ignored.

     * (but see {@link #asAnnotationTypeDoc()}).

     * If this is a primitive type, return null.

     *

     *         or null if it is a primitive type.

     */

    ClassDoc asClassDoc();

    /**

     * an invocation of a generic class or interface.  Array dimensions

     * are ignored.

     *

     *         invocation of a generic type, or null if it is not.

     * @since 1.5

     */

    ParameterizedType asParameterizedType();

    /**

     * a type variable.  Array dimensions are ignored.

     *

     *         or null if it is not.

     * @since 1.5

     */

    TypeVariable asTypeVariable();

    /**

     * a wildcard type.

     *

     *         or null if it is not.

     * @since 1.5

     */

    WildcardType asWildcardType();

    /**

     * an annotated type.

     *

     *         or null if it is not

     * @since 1.8

     */

    AnnotatedType asAnnotatedType();

    /**

     * an annotation type.  Array dimensions are ignored.

     *

     *         type, or null if it is not.

     * @since 1.5

     */

    AnnotationTypeDoc asAnnotationTypeDoc();

    /**

     * If this type is an array type, return the element type of the

     * array. Otherwise, return null.

     *

     * @since 1.8

     */

    Type getElementType();

}