Name: jl125535			Date: 08/04/2004


A DESCRIPTION OF THE REQUEST :
java.nio.Buffer subclasses should support covariant return types for methods mark(), limit(int), position(int)...


JUSTIFICATION :
These methods return 'this', so multiple statements can be put in one line. Therefore the reference returned should be a subclass of Buffer so that methods specific to the subclass can be called on the same line.

EXPECTED VERSUS ACTUAL BEHAVIOR :
EXPECTED -
ByteBuffer should return a ByteBuffer when calling methods mark(),  clear(), flip()...
ACTUAL -
ByteBuffer.mark() returns a Buffer reference.

---------- BEGIN SOURCE ----------
import java.nio.*;
public class BufferRFE {

public static void main(String[] args) {
ByteBuffer buffer = ByteBuffer.allocate(1024);
buffer.mark().put(new byte[1024]).rewind();// compile-time error Method put() not found in class Buffer
}
}
---------- END SOURCE ----------

CUSTOMER SUBMITTED WORKAROUND :
buffer.mark();
buffer.put(new byte[1024]);
buffer.rewind();
(Incident Review ID: 295628) 
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