What is Cloning In Java? How to use it?

class Employee implements Cloneable{  

int empid;  

String empname;  

  

Employee(int empid,String empname){  

this.empid=empid; 

this.empname=empname;  

}  
public Object clone()throws CloneNotSupportedException
{  
return super.clone();  
}  

public static void main(String args[])
{  

try{  

Employee e1=new Employee(1,"Amit");
Employee e2=(Employee)e1.clone();  
System.out.println("Nm="+e1.empname);  
System.out.println("Nm="+e2.empname); 

  

}catch(CloneNotSupportedException c){}  

  

}  

}

There are two types of cloning:-

Shallow cloning

• • When we duplicate an entity to generate two or more entities, ensuring that modifications in one entity are mirrored in the others, we classify this as a shallow copy.
  • In a shallow copy, additional memory allocation does not occur for the other entities; instead, only the reference is duplicated to those entities.
  • By default, when employing the clone() method, a shallow copy of the object is generated.
  • This implies that a new instance is created, and all the object’s fields are copied to this new instance, resulting in both instances referencing the same memory in the heap.

class Data 

{  

 int no=100;

}  

public class ShallowCopyData  

{     

public static void main(String args[])   

{  



Data obj1 = new Data();  

// it will copy the reference, not value  

Data obj2 = obj1;  

obj2.no = 200;   

System.out.println("The value of no is: " + obj1.no);  

}  

}   

In the output, the observed value is 200, reflecting the updated value rather than the original value of 100. This occurs because both obj1 and obj2 point to the same memory location. Hence, any modifications made through the reference variable obj2 will be mirrored in the same way through the reference variable obj1.

Deep cloning

• • When duplicating an entity to generate two or more entities in a manner that ensures alterations in one entity do not impact the others, we refer to this process as a deep copy.
  • Deep copy or cloning involves generating entirely independent duplicate objects in heap memory.
  • This process requires manually assigning values to the second object, ensuring that the values are copied to create an independent replica.

class Data
{  

int no = 100;  
}  
public class DeepCopyData{     
// main method  
public static void main(String argvs[])   
{  
// creating an object of the class ABC  
Data obj1 = new Data();  
  
// it will copy the reference, not value  
Data obj2 = new Data();  
  
obj2.no = 200;  
  
System.out.println("The value of no is: " + obj1.no);  
}  
}  

 In the output, we see the original value of 100, not the updated value of 200. The cause is that obj1 and obj2 reference separate memory locations. Hence, any modifications made through the reference variable obj2 do not reflect when using the reference variable obj1.