Java Reference
In-Depth Information
strings, meaning that interoperability between different compilers
could be a problem.
Without standards in this area, the effective use of annotations could be
stifled.
Finally, another potential problem with annotations is that they could be
misused to change the semantics of the code they are applied to. Ac-
cording to the
Java Language Specification,
"annotations are not permit-
ted to affect the semantics of programs in the Java programming lan-
guage in any way." Indeed, any unrecognized annotations should just
be ignored by the compiler, the virtual machine, and any other annota-
tion processing tool. However, it is easy to see how, with a suitable pro-
cessing tool, annotations could be used to achieve a style of metapro-
gramming, that allows people to create specialized dialects of the Java
programming language to meet their own specific needs. If programs
become dependent on specialized annotation support, then the portab-
ility benefits of the Java platform will be lost.
I don't care who does the electin' as long as I get to do the nomin-
atin'.
Boss Tweed
