Interface Encoder

src/main/java/org/apache/commons/codec/Encoder.java:28–42

Provides the highest level of abstraction for Encoders. This is the sister interface of Decoder. Every implementation of Encoder provides this common generic interface which allows a user to pass a generic Object to any Encoder implementation in the codec package.

 *
 */
public interface Encoder {

    /**
     * Encodes an "Object" and returns the encoded content as an Object. The Objects here may just be
     * {@code byte[]} or {@code String}s depending on the implementation used.
     *
     * @param source
     *            An object to encode
     * @return An "encoded" Object
     * @throws EncoderException
     *             An encoder exception is thrown if the encoder experiences a failure condition during the encoding
     *             process.
     */
    Object encode(Object source) throws EncoderException;
}