com.google.errorprone.annotations.CompileTimeConstant Maven / Gradle / Ivy

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/*
 * Copyright 2015 The Error Prone Authors.
 *
 * 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 com.google.errorprone.annotations;

import static java.lang.annotation.RetentionPolicy.CLASS;

import java.lang.annotation.Documented;
import java.lang.annotation.ElementType;
import java.lang.annotation.Retention;
import java.lang.annotation.Target;

/**
 * Annotation for method parameter and class field declarations, which denotes that corresponding
 * actual values must be compile-time constant expressions.
 *
 * When the formal parameter of a method or constructor is annotated with the {@link
 * CompileTimeConstant} type annotation, the corresponding actual parameter must be an expression
 * that satisfies one of the following conditions:
 *
 * 

 *   The expression is one for which the Java compiler can determine a constant value at compile
 *       time, or
 *   
the expression consists of the literal {@code null}, or
 *   
the expression consists of a single identifier, where the identifier is a formal method
 *       parameter or class field that is declared {@code final} and has the {@link
 *       CompileTimeConstant} annotation.
 * 
 *
 * This constraint on call sites of methods or constructors that have one or more formal
 * parameters with this annotation is enforced by error-prone.
 *
 * 
For example, the following code snippet is legal:
 *
 * 
{@code
 * public class C {
 *   private static final S = "Hello";
 *   void m(@CompileTimeConstant final String s) { }
 *   void n(@CompileTimeConstant final String t) {
 *     m(S + " World!");
 *     m(null);
 *     m(t);
 *   }
 * }
 * }
 *
 * In contrast, the following is illegal:
 *
 * 
{@code
 * public class C {
 *   void m(@CompileTimeConstant final String s) { }
 *   void n(String t) {
 *     m(t);
 *   }
 * }
 * }
 *
 * When a class field is annotated with the {@link CompileTimeConstant} type annotation, the
 * field must also be declared to be {@code final}, and the corresponding initialised value must be
 * an expression that satisfies one of the following conditions:
 *
 * 

 *   The expression is one for which the Java compiler can determine a constant value at compile
 *       time, or
 *   
the expression consists of the literal {@code null}, or
 *   
the expression consists of a single identifier, where the identifier is a formal method
 *       parameter or class field that is declared {@code final} and has the {@link
 *       CompileTimeConstant} annotation.
 * 
 *
 * This constraint on fields with this annotation is enforced by error-prone.
 *
 * 
For example, the following code snippet is legal:
 *
 * 
{@code
 * public class C {
 *   \@CompileTimeConstant final String S;
 *   public C(@CompileTimeConstant String s) {
 *     this.S = s;
 *   }
 *   void m(@CompileTimeConstant final String s) { }
 *   void n() {
 *     m(S);
 *   }
 * }
 * }
 *
 * In contrast, the following are illegal:
 *
 * 
{@code
 * public class C {
 *   \@CompileTimeConstant String S;
 *   public C(@CompileTimeConstant String s) {
 *     this.S = s;
 *   }
 *   void m(@CompileTimeConstant final String s) { }
 *   void n() {
 *     m(S);
 *   }
 * }
 * }
 *
 * {@code
 * public class C {
 *   \@CompileTimeConstant final String S;
 *   public C(String s) {
 *     this.S = s;
 *   }
 * }
 * }
 *
 * Compile-time constant values are implicitly under the control of the trust domain of the
 * application whose source code they are part of. Hence, this annotation is useful to constrain the
 * use of APIs that may only be safely called with values that are under application control.
 *
 * The current implementation of the @CompileTimeConstant checker cannot reason about more
 * complex scenarios, for example, returning compile-time-constant values from a method, or storing
 * compile-time-constant values in a collection. APIs will typically accommodate such use cases via
 * domain-specific types that capture domain-specific aspects of trustworthiness that arise from
 * values being under application control.
 */
@Documented
@Retention(CLASS)
@Target({ElementType.PARAMETER, ElementType.FIELD})
public @interface CompileTimeConstant {}