: I already know how Object#clone() works: May i humbly suggest that you: a) relax a bit; b) keep reading the rest of the javadocs for that method?
: As BytesRef#clone() is overriding Object#clone(), I expect it to : comply with that. BytesRef#clone() functions virtually identical to the way Object#clone functions, as noted in the *remainder* of the method javadocs you quoted... https://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/api/java/lang/Object.html#clone%28%29 >> ...this method creates a new instance of the class of this object and >> initializes all its fields with exactly the contents of the corresponding >> fields of this object, as if by assignment; the contents of the fields >> are not themselves cloned. Thus, this method performs a "shallow copy" >> of this object, not a "deep copy" operation. ...regardless of what convention is *suggested*, BytesRef behaves in the manor consistent with Object#clone, and in the manor consistent with the *purpose* of the class (to be a *Reference*) and in the manor that gives the most flexibility for it's use -- if it did a deep clone by default, we might as well just use byte[] everywhere in the API. : Essentially, BytesRef : cannot be used as an object. ... : If Lucene wanted a shallow clone, it could have added shallowClone() while If you really feel strongly about this, and want to advocate for more consistency arround the meaning/implementation of "clone()" in Java APIs, i suggest you take it up with the Open JDK project, and focus on a more high visibility, widely used (in the Java community as a whole) class, such as ArrayList, HashSet, or HashMap etc... (all of which implement Clonable, and all of which are documented as implementing Object#clone by making a shallow copy) https://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/api/java/util/ArrayList.html#clone%28%29 https://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/api/java/util/HashSet.html#clone%28%29 https://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/api/java/util/HashMap.html#clone%28%29 -Hoss http://www.lucidworks.com/ --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: java-user-unsubscr...@lucene.apache.org For additional commands, e-mail: java-user-h...@lucene.apache.org
