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package com.sun.jdi;

A proxy used by a debugger to examine or manipulate some entity in another virtual machine. Mirror is the root of the interface hierarchy for this package. Mirrors can be proxies for objects in the target VM (ObjectReference), primitive values (for example, IntegerValue), types (for example, ReferenceType), dynamic application state (for example, StackFrame), and even debugger-specific constructs (for example, BreakpointRequest). The VirtualMachine itself is also considered a mirror, representing the composite state of the target VM. 

There is no guarantee that a particular entity in the target VM will map
to a single instance of Mirror. Implementors are free to decide
whether a single mirror will be used for some or all mirrors. Clients
of this interface should always use equals to compare
two mirrors for equality.
 Any method on a Mirror that takes a Mirror as an
parameter directly or indirectly (e.g., as a element in a List) will throw VMMismatchException if the mirrors are from different virtual machines. 
Author:
Robert Field, Gordon Hirsch, James McIlree
See Also:
VirtualMachine
Since:
 1.3/**
 * A proxy used by a debugger to examine or manipulate some entity
 * in another virtual machine. Mirror is the root of the
 * interface hierarchy for this package. Mirrors can be proxies for objects
 * in the target VM ({@link ObjectReference}), primitive values
 * (for example, {@link IntegerValue}), types (for example,
 * {@link ReferenceType}), dynamic application state (for example,
 * {@link StackFrame}), and even debugger-specific constructs (for example,
 * {@link com.sun.jdi.request.BreakpointRequest}).
 * The {@link VirtualMachine} itself is also
 * considered a mirror, representing the composite state of the
 * target VM.
 * <P>
 * There is no guarantee that a particular entity in the target VM will map
 * to a single instance of Mirror. Implementors are free to decide
 * whether a single mirror will be used for some or all mirrors. Clients
 * of this interface should always use <code>equals</code> to compare
 * two mirrors for equality.
 * <p>
 * Any method on a {@link com.sun.jdi.Mirror} that takes a <code>Mirror</code> as an
 * parameter directly or indirectly (e.g., as a element in a <code>List</code>) will
 * throw {@link com.sun.jdi.VMMismatchException} if the mirrors are from different
 * virtual machines.
 *
 * @see VirtualMachine
 *
 * @author Robert Field
 * @author Gordon Hirsch
 * @author James McIlree
 * @since  1.3
 */
public interface Mirror {

    
Gets the VirtualMachine to which this
Mirror belongs. A Mirror must be associated
with a VirtualMachine to have any meaning.
Returns:
the VirtualMachine for which this mirror is a proxy./**
     * Gets the VirtualMachine to which this
     * Mirror belongs. A Mirror must be associated
     * with a VirtualMachine to have any meaning.
     *
     * @return the {@link VirtualMachine} for which this mirror is a proxy.
     */
    VirtualMachine virtualMachine();

    
Returns a String describing this mirror
Returns:
a string describing this mirror./**
     * Returns a String describing this mirror
     *
     * @return a string describing this mirror.
     */
    String toString();
}