1/*  Copyright (c) 2000-2006 hamcrest.org
2 */
3package org.hamcrest;
4
5/**
6 * A matcher over acceptable values.
7 * A matcher is able to describe itself to give feedback when it fails.
8 * <p/>
9 * Matcher implementations should <b>NOT directly implement this interface</b>.
10 * Instead, <b>extend</b> the {@link BaseMatcher} abstract class,
11 * which will ensure that the Matcher API can grow to support
12 * new features and remain compatible with all Matcher implementations.
13 * <p/>
14 * For easy access to common Matcher implementations, use the static factory
15 * methods in {@link CoreMatchers}.
16 *
17 * @see CoreMatchers
18 * @see BaseMatcher
19 */
20@SuppressWarnings({"unused", "UnusedDeclaration"})
21public interface Matcher<T> extends SelfDescribing {
22
23    /**
24     * Evaluates the matcher for argument <var>item</var>.
25     * <p/>
26     * This method matches against Object, instead of the generic type T. This is
27     * because the caller of the Matcher does not know at runtime what the type is
28     * (because of type erasure with Java generics). It is down to the implementations
29     * to check the correct type.
30     *
31     * @param item the object against which the matcher is evaluated.
32     * @return <code>true</code> if <var>item</var> matches, otherwise <code>false</code>.
33     *
34     * @see BaseMatcher
35     */
36    boolean matches(Object item);
37
38    /**
39     * This method simply acts a friendly reminder not to implement Matcher directly and
40     * instead extend BaseMatcher. It's easy to ignore JavaDoc, but a bit harder to ignore
41     * compile errors .
42     *
43     * @see Matcher for reasons why.
44     * @see BaseMatcher
45     */
46    void _dont_implement_Matcher___instead_extend_BaseMatcher_();
47}
48