io.polygenesis.commons.converter.Converter Maven / Gradle / Ivy

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/*-
 * ==========================LICENSE_START=================================
 * PolyGenesis Platform
 * ========================================================================
 * Copyright (C) 2015 - 2019 Christos Tsakostas, OREGOR LTD
 * ========================================================================
 * 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.
 * ===========================LICENSE_END==================================
 */

package io.polygenesis.commons.converter;

/**
 * A converter converts a source object of type {@code S} to a target of type {@code T}.
 *
 * Implementations of this interface are thread-safe and can be shared.
 *
 * @param  the source type
 * @param  the target type
 * @author Christos Tsakostas
 */
public interface Converter {

  /**
   * Convert the source object of type {@code S} to target type {@code T}.
   *
   * @param source the source object to convert, which must be an instance of {@code S} (never
   *     {@code null})
   * @return the converted object, which must be an instance of {@code T} (potentially {@code null})
   * @throws IllegalArgumentException if the source cannot be converted to the desired target type
   */
  T convert(S source, Object... args);
}