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/*
 * Copyright (c) 2010-2015 Pivotal Software, Inc. All rights reserved.
 *
 * 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. See accompanying
 * LICENSE file.
 */

package com.gemstone.gemfire.internal.lang;

/**
 * The Orderable interface defines a contract for classes whose Objects can be sorted, or ordered according to the
 * order property of a Comparable type.
 * 
 * @author John Blum
 * @see java.lang.Comparable
 * @since 6.8
 */
public interface Orderable> {

  /**
   * Returns the value of the order property used in ordering instances of this implementing Object relative to other
   * type compatible Object instances.  The order property value can also be used in sorting operations, or in
   * maintaining Orderable objects in ordered data structures like arrays or Lists, or even for defining a precedence
   * not directly related order.
   * 
   * @return a value that is Comparable to other value of the same type and defines the relative order of this Object
   * instance to it's peers.
   */
  public T getOrder();

}