/*

  * Copyright 2007, 2008, 2009 Ange Optimization ApS

  *

  * 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 eu.simuline.octave.type;

 /**

  * Common interface for the octave objects.

  */

 public interface OctaveObject {

     /**

      * Make a shallow copy of this object.

      * 

      * In general when an {@link OctaveObject} is returned from a getter,

      * e.g. on {@link OctaveStruct} or {@link OctaveStruct},

      * a shallow copy is returned in order to follow the way octave behaves. 

      * This method is used to make that copy.

      * 

      * @return a shallow copy of this

      */

     OctaveObject shallowCopy();

 }