- Type Parameters:
K - Cache lookup key type
V - Cache instance value type
D - Data type for creating a new instance value
public abstract class SoftCache<K,V,D>
extends CacheBase<K,V,D>
Generic, thread-safe cache implementation, storing SoftReferences to cached instances.
To use, instantiate a subclass which implements the createInstance() method,
and call get() with the key and the data. The get() call will use the data
only if it needs to call createInstance(), otherwise the data is ignored.
By using SoftReferences to instances, the Java runtime can release instances
once they are not used any more at all. If such an instance is then requested again,
the get() method will call createInstance() again and also create a new SoftReference.
The cache holds on to its map of keys to SoftReferenced instances forever.