- /*
- * Copyright 2002-2004 The Apache Software Foundation
- *
- * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
- * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
- * You may obtain a copy of the License at
- *
- * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
- *
- * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
- * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
- * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
- * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
- * limitations under the License.
- */
- package org.apache.commons.collections;
-
- /**
- * Defines a functor interface implemented by classes that create objects.
- * <p>
- * A <code>Factory</code> creates an object without using an input parameter.
- * If an input parameter is required, then {@link Transformer} is more appropriate.
- * <p>
- * Standard implementations of common factories are provided by
- * {@link FactoryUtils}. These include factories that return a constant,
- * a copy of a prototype or a new instance.
- *
- * @since Commons Collections 2.1
- * @version $Revision: 1.9 $ $Date: 2004/04/14 20:08:57 $
- *
- * @author Arron Bates
- * @author Stephen Colebourne
- */
- public interface Factory {
-
- /**
- * Create a new object.
- *
- * @return a new object
- * @throws FunctorException (runtime) if the factory cannot create an object
- */
- public Object create();
-
- }