/* ###
 * IP: GHIDRA
 *
 * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
 * You may obtain a copy of the License at
 * 
 *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
 * 
 * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
 * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
 * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
 * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 * limitations under the License.
 */
package ghidra.program.model.data;

import ghidra.program.database.data.PointerTypedefInspector;

/**
 * Interface for pointers
 */
public interface Pointer extends DataType {

	/**
	 * Pointer representation used when unable to generate a suitable address
	 */
	public final String NaP = "NaP";

	/**
	 * Returns the "pointed to" dataType
	 * @return referenced datatype (may be null)
	 */
	DataType getDataType();

	/**
	 * Creates a pointer to the indicated data type.
	 * @param dataType the data type to point to.
	 * @return the newly created pointer.
	 */
	Pointer newPointer(DataType dataType);

	/**
	 * Construct a pointer-typedef builder base on this pointer.
	 * <br>
	 * Other construction options are provided when directly instantiating 
	 * a {@link PointerTypedefBuilder}.  In addition the utility class {@link PointerTypedefInspector}
	 * can be used to easily determine pointer-typedef settings.
	 * @return pointer-typedef builder
	 * @throws IllegalArgumentException if an invalid name is 
	 * specified or pointer does not have a datatype manager.
	 */
	default PointerTypedefBuilder typedefBuilder() {
		return new PointerTypedefBuilder(this, this.getDataTypeManager());
	}

}
