Cloning a Java object
<p>I found <a href="http://stackoverflow.com/questions/869033/how-do-i-copy-an-object-in-java">this answer</a> about cloning java objects. However, with the approach in the accepted answer there, is the cloned object is totally a new instance? I mean not really a linked copy? </p>

<p>I am asking this because the java object I need to clone is a "global object" which gets updated at some point in time. And at some point in time I need to "snapshot" the object and essentially put than on a HashMap. </p>
