xref: /third_party/protobuf/csharp/src/Google.Protobuf/IDeepCloneable.cs

#region Copyright notice and license
// Protocol Buffers - Google's data interchange format
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namespace Google.Protobuf
{
    /// <summary>
    /// Generic interface for a deeply cloneable type.
    /// </summary>
    /// <remarks>
    /// <para>
    /// All generated messages implement this interface, but so do some non-message types.
    /// Additionally, due to the type constraint on <c>T</c> in <see cref="IMessage{T}"/>,
    /// it is simpler to keep this as a separate interface.
    /// </para>
    /// </remarks>
    /// <typeparam name="T">The type itself, returned by the <see cref="Clone"/> method.</typeparam>
    public interface IDeepCloneable<T>
    {
        /// <summary>
        /// Creates a deep clone of this object.
        /// </summary>
        /// <returns>A deep clone of this object.</returns>
        T Clone();
    }
}