Cloneable interface

[Nikhil Sun]

Suppose I want an object to be cloned.So I would implement a public/protected Object clone() method inside its class.My question is whether I need to compulsorly specify that this class implements Cloneable or is it optional?

[Sunil Vasudevan]

So I would implement a public/protected Object clone() method inside its class.

You need not implement Object clone() method inside your class. You just need to make a call.

To answer your second question, yes it is mandatory for the class to implement Cloneable interface.

And best way to figure out whether it is mandatory or not is just to write a test program and run it.

[Campbell Ritchie]

You probably would wish to implement a clone() method. There is recent discussion on this thread about how one might do it.