An abstract base class for implementing the decorator pattern. The delegate() method must be overridden to return the instance being decorated.

This class does not forward the hashCode and equals methods through to the backing object, but relies on Object's implementation. This is necessary to preserve the symmetry of equals. Custom definitions of equality are usually based on an interface, such as Set or List, so that the implementation of equals can cast the object being tested for equality to the custom interface. ForwardingObject implements no such custom interfaces directly; they are implemented only in subclasses. Therefore, forwarding equals would break symmetry, as the forwarding object might consider itself equal to the object being tested, but the reverse could not be true. This behavior is consistent with the JDK's collection wrappers, such as java.util.Collections#unmodifiableCollection. Use an interface-specific subclass of ForwardingObject, such as ForwardingList, to preserve equality behavior, or override equals directly.

The toString method is forwarded to the delegate. Although this class does not implement Serializable, a serializable subclass may be created since this class has a parameter-less constructor.