[ACCUMULO-2486] Use covariant return types in SKVI.deepCopy

• Type: Improvement
• Status: Resolved
• Priority: Major
• Resolution: Won't Fix
• Assignee: Unassigned
• Reporter: Mike Drob
• Created: 17/Mar/14 17:22
• Updated: 27/Aug/19 23:42
• Resolved: 27/Aug/19 23:42

Description

Starting with Java 5, subclasses with method overrides can declare covariant return types. In general, I believe that we want to do this, as it provides stronger type guarantees with not a lot of extra cost.

Example:

public interface SortedKeyValueIterator {
      SortedKeyValueIterator deepCopy(IteratorEnvironment env);
}

public interface InterruptibleIterator extends SortedKeyValueIterator {
      @Override
      InterruptibleIterator deepCopy(IteratorEnvironment env);
}

I believe this change will be fully backwards compatible with the existing APIs.