Rare Earth Juejin Tech Community

Mar 18, 2024 · Fundamentals

Understanding Java Annotations: Definition, Essence, Details, and Parsing SOURCE‑Retention Annotations

This article explains what Java annotations are, their underlying nature as interfaces extending Annotation, the various meta‑annotations such as @Retention and @Target, how retention policies affect availability, and demonstrates how to parse SOURCE‑retention annotations using a custom AbstractProcessor with complete code examples.