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package javax.crypto;

A secret (symmetric) key.
This interface contains no methods or constants.
Its only purpose is to group (and provide type safety for) secret keys.
Provider implementations of this interface must overwrite the
equals and hashCode methods inherited from
java.lang.Object, so that secret keys are compared based on
their underlying key material and not based on reference.
Keys that implement this interface return the string RAW
as their encoding format (see getFormat), and return the
raw key bytes as the result of a getEncoded method call. (The
getFormat and getEncoded methods are inherited
from the java.security.Key parent interface.)
Author:
Jan Luehe
See Also:
SecretKeyFactory
Cipher
Since:
1.4/**
 * A secret (symmetric) key.
 *
 * <p>This interface contains no methods or constants.
 * Its only purpose is to group (and provide type safety for) secret keys.
 *
 * <p>Provider implementations of this interface must overwrite the
 * <code>equals</code> and <code>hashCode</code> methods inherited from
 * <code>java.lang.Object</code>, so that secret keys are compared based on
 * their underlying key material and not based on reference.
 *
 * <p>Keys that implement this interface return the string <code>RAW</code>
 * as their encoding format (see <code>getFormat</code>), and return the
 * raw key bytes as the result of a <code>getEncoded</code> method call. (The
 * <code>getFormat</code> and <code>getEncoded</code> methods are inherited
 * from the <code>java.security.Key</code> parent interface.)
 *
 * @author Jan Luehe
 *
 * @see SecretKeyFactory
 * @see Cipher
 * @since 1.4
 */

public interface SecretKey extends java.security.Key {
    
The class fingerprint that is set to indicate serialization
compatibility since J2SE 1.4.
/**
     * The class fingerprint that is set to indicate serialization
     * compatibility since J2SE 1.4.
     */
    static final long serialVersionUID = -4795878709595146952L;
}