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SRI International's AIC Utility Library (for Java 1.6+)

There is a newer version: 1.3.3

package com.sri.ai.util.collect;

import java.util.Map;

/**
 * A Map based on another Map (the base), and storing only the differences between itself and the base.
 * When an entry is added to this map, it will mask another one in the base map.
 * 
 * This is useful when we want a "copy" of a map to which we will add entries, without actually having to copy all original entries.
 * 

 * Beware: changes to entries still residing in the base map are reflected in it!
 * 
 * IMPORTANT: as of October 2015, implementation {@link AbstractStackedMap} does not reflect changes made through
 * {@link Map#entrySet()}, {@link Map#keySet()}, and {@link Map#values()}.  
 */
public interface StackedMap extends Map {

	public abstract Map getTop();

	public abstract void setTop(Map top);

	public abstract Map getBase();

	public abstract void setBase(Map base);

}