java-design-patterns/marker

title, category, language, tags

title	category	language	tags
Marker Interface	Structural	en	Decoupling

Intent

Using empty interfaces as markers to distinguish special treated objects.

Class diagram

Applicability

Use the Marker Interface pattern when

• you want to identify the special objects from normal objects (to treat them differently)
• you want to mark that some object is available for certain sort of operations

Real world examples

• javase.8.docs.api.java.io.Serializable
• javase.8.docs.api.java.lang.Cloneable

Credits

• Effective Java