public final class UID extends Object implements Serializable
UID represents an identifier that is unique over time
 with respect to the host it is generated on, or one of 216
 "well-known" identifiers.
 The UID() constructor can be used to generate an
 identifier that is unique over time with respect to the host it is
 generated on.  The UID(short) constructor can be used to
 create one of 216 well-known identifiers.
 
A UID instance contains three primitive values:
 
unique, an int that uniquely identifies
 the VM that this UID was generated in, with respect to its
 host and at the time represented by the time value (an
 example implementation of the unique value would be a
 process identifier),
  or zero for a well-known UID
 time, a long equal to a time (as returned
 by System.currentTimeMillis()) at which the VM that this
 UID was generated in was alive,
 or zero for a well-known UID
 count, a short to distinguish
 UIDs generated in the same VM with the same
 time value
 An independently generated UID instance is unique
 over time with respect to the host it is generated on as long as
 the host requires more than one millisecond to reboot and its system
 clock is never set backward.  A globally unique identifier can be
 constructed by pairing a UID instance with a unique host
 identifier, such as an IP address.
| Constructor and Description | 
|---|
| UID()Generates a  UIDthat is unique over time with
 respect to the host that it was generated on. | 
| UID(short num)Creates a "well-known"  UID. | 
| Modifier and Type | Method and Description | 
|---|---|
| boolean | equals(Object obj)Compares the specified object with this  UIDfor
 equality. | 
| int | hashCode()Returns the hash code value for this  UID. | 
| static UID | read(DataInput in)Constructs and returns a new  UIDinstance by
 unmarshalling a binary representation from anDataInputinstance. | 
| String | toString()Returns a string representation of this  UID. | 
| void | write(DataOutput out)Marshals a binary representation of this  UIDto
 aDataOutputinstance. | 
public UID()
UID that is unique over time with
 respect to the host that it was generated on.public UID(short num)
UID.
 There are 216 possible such well-known ids.
 A UID created via this constructor will not
 clash with any UIDs generated via the no-arg
 constructor.
num - number for well-known UIDpublic int hashCode()
UID.hashCode in class ObjectUIDObject.equals(java.lang.Object), 
System.identityHashCode(java.lang.Object)public boolean equals(Object obj)
UID for
 equality.
 This method returns true if and only if the
 specified object is a UID instance with the same
 unique, time, and count
 values as this one.equals in class Objectobj - the object to compare this UID totrue if the given object is equivalent to
 this one, and false otherwiseObject.hashCode(), 
HashMappublic String toString()
UID.public void write(DataOutput out) throws IOException
UID to
 a DataOutput instance.
 Specifically, this method first invokes the given stream's
 DataOutput.writeInt(int) method with this UID's
 unique value, then it invokes the stream's
 DataOutput.writeLong(long) method with this UID's
 time value, and then it invokes the stream's
 DataOutput.writeShort(int) method with this UID's
 count value.
out - the DataOutput instance to write
 this UID toIOException - if an I/O error occurs while performing
 this operationpublic static UID read(DataInput in) throws IOException
UID instance by
 unmarshalling a binary representation from an
 DataInput instance.
 Specifically, this method first invokes the given stream's
 DataInput.readInt() method to read a unique value,
 then it invoke's the stream's
 DataInput.readLong() method to read a time value,
 then it invoke's the stream's
 DataInput.readShort() method to read a count value,
 and then it creates and returns a new UID instance
 that contains the unique, time, and
 count values that were read from the stream.
in - the DataInput instance to read
 UID fromUID instanceIOException - if an I/O error occurs while performing
 this operation Submit a bug or feature 
For further API reference and developer documentation, see Java SE Documentation. That documentation contains more detailed, developer-targeted descriptions, with conceptual overviews, definitions of terms, workarounds, and working code examples.
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