content: /*
   * Scanner.java January 2010
   *
   * Copyright (C) 2010, Niall Gallagher <niallg@users.sf.net>
   *
   * 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.
   */
  
  package com.aliyun.odps.simpleframework.xml.convert;
  
  import java.lang.annotation.Annotation;
  
  /**
   * The <code>Scanner</code> interface is used to scan a class for a
   * given annotation. A scanner will cache all previous lookups to
   * ensure the look time is reduced. Caches include misses, so if a
   * class does not contain an annotation when scanned it will not
   * be scanned again.
   * 
   * @author Niall Gallagher
   */
  interface Scanner {
  
     /**
      * This method will scan a class for the specified annotation. 
      * If the annotation is found on the class, or on one of the super
      * types then it is returned. All scans should be cached to ensure
      * scanning is only performed once.
      * 
      * @param type this is the annotation type to be scanned for
      * 
      * @return this will return the annotation if it is found
      */
     <T extends Annotation> T scan(Class<T> type);
  }
  