001/*
002 * Copyright (C) 2011 The Guava Authors
003 *
004 * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
005 * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
006 * You may obtain a copy of the License at
007 *
008 * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
009 *
010 * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
011 * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
012 * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
013 * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
014 * limitations under the License.
015 */
016
017package com.google.common.base;
018
019import com.google.common.annotations.Beta;
020
021/**
022 * A time source; returns a time value representing the number of nanoseconds
023 * elapsed since some fixed but arbitrary point in time.
024 *
025 * @author Kevin Bourrillion
026 * @since 9
027 */
028@Beta
029public interface Ticker {
030  /**
031   * Returns the number of nanoseconds elapsed since this ticker's fixed
032   * point of reference.
033   */
034  long read();
035}