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/**
 *  Copyright 2011-2013 Terracotta, Inc.
 *  Copyright 2011-2013 Oracle America Incorporated
 *
 *  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.jsr107.ri;

/**
 * Converts values of a specified type to and from an internal representation.
 * 
 * {@link RIInternalConverter}s are typically used convert cache keys and values
 * to and from an appropriate internal representation, that of which is managed
 * by a cache.
 * 
 * The internal representation is declared as an Object as the type is typically
 * unknown until runtime.
 *
 * @param  the type of value to convert from and to
 * @author Brian Oliver
 * @see RIReferenceInternalConverter
 * @see RISerializingInternalConverter
 */
public interface RIInternalConverter {
  /**
   * Converts the value to an internal representation.
   *
   * @param value the value to convert
   * @return an internal representation of the value
   */
  Object toInternal(T value);

  /**
   * Converts an internal representation of a value to a value.
   *
   * @param internal the internal representation of the value
   * @return the value
   */
  T fromInternal(Object internal);
}