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1   /**
2    * Copyright 2008 Atlassian Pty Ltd 
3    * 
4    * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); 
5    * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
6    * You may obtain a copy of the License at 
7    * 
8    *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0 
9    * 
10   * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software 
11   * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, 
12   * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. 
13   * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and 
14   * limitations under the License.
15   */
16  
17  package com.atlassian.util.concurrent;
18  
19  import java.util.NoSuchElementException;
20  
21  /**
22   * A Supplier of objects of a single type. Semantically, this could be a
23   * Factory, Generator, Builder, Closure, Producer or something else entirely. No
24   * guarantees are implied by this interface. Implementations may return null if
25   * no objects are available, can optionally block until elements are available
26   * or throw {@link NoSuchElementException}.
27   * <p>
28   * Thread safety of a Supplier is not mandated by this interface, although
29   * serious care and consideration should be taken with any implementations that
30   * are not.
31   * <p>
32   * See also Google Collection's Supplier
33   * <code>com.google.common.base.Supplier</code> for a similar interface.
34   * 
35   * @param <T> the type of object supplied.
36   */
37  public interface Supplier<T> {
38      /**
39       * Produce an object. Retrieve an instance of the appropriate type. The
40       * returned object may or may not be a new instance, depending on the
41       * implementation.
42       * 
43       * @return the product, may be null if there are no objects available.
44       * @throws NoSuchElementException if the supply has been exhausted.
45       */
46      T get();
47  }