/*
 * Copyright (c) 2002,2009 Declarative Engineering LLC.
 * All rights reserved.  This program and the accompanying materials
 * are made available under the terms of the Declarative Engineering LLC
 * verson 1 which accompanies this distribution, and is available at
 * http://declarativeengineering.com/legal/DE_Developer_License_v1.txt
 */
package com.common.util.optimized;

import com.common.util.*;

public interface ILongObjectHashMap extends IMap {
	public static final long NULL_VALUE = -9223372036854775808L;
/**
 * Determines whether the key exists in the map.
 * @param key The key to look for.
 * @return Will be <code>true</code> if the key is already in the map.
 */
public boolean containsKey(long key);
/**
 * Gets an object in the map by its' key.
 * @param key The key whose value should be retieved.
 * @return The value associated with the key.  A <code>null</code> value will be returned only if the key was not found.
 */
public Object get(long key);
/**
 * Gets an iterator over the keys contained in this collection.
 * @return An iterator over the map keys.
 */
public ILongIterator keyIterator();
/**
 * Puts a key/value pair in the map.
 * The value can be retrieved later with the given key.
 * @param key The key that will be used to map the value.
 * @param value The value stored in map.
 * @return The value previously associated with the key.
 */
public Object put(long key, Object value);
/**
 * Removes a key/value pair from the map.
 * @param key The key that should be removed (with its' value) from the map.
 * @return The value removed from map.  A <code>null</code> value is returned if the key was not found.
 */
public Object remove(long key);
/**
 * Removes all key/value pairs from the map.
 * @return Will be <code>true</code> if the method was successful.
 */
public boolean removeAll();
/**
 * Gets an iterator over the values contained in this collection.
 * @return An iterator over the map values.
 */
public IIterator valueIterator();
}//ILongObjectHashMap//