ObjectCloner

ObjectCloner is a software utility or library designed to create copies of objects, prioritizing structural fidelity and safe duplication. It provides mechanisms to duplicate an object graph so that the resulting clone has the same data and relationships as the original, while reducing unintended shared references. In practice, ObjectCloner may offer both shallow cloning, which copies the top-level object, and deep cloning, which recursively duplicates nested objects and collections. It can also handle circular references, preserving the cycles without entering infinite loops.

Most implementations support various data types and structures, including primitives, arrays or lists, maps or dictionaries, dates, and custom objects. Some ObjectCloner implementations preserve type information and prototype chains to ensure the clone behaves like the original in polymorphic contexts. Others rely on serialization-based strategies, such as converting to a neutral format and reconstructing the object graph, or on reflection and copy constructors. Optional customization hooks let developers tailor cloning behavior for private fields, read-only properties, or non-clonable members.

Usage scenarios include state management in applications that implement immutability or undo/redo, testing where isolated copies are needed, data migration between runtime versions, and safe duplication of configuration manifests. Limitations may include performance costs, challenges cloning non-serializable resources, and potential loss of non-data state such as event listeners or function bindings. Related concepts include cloning, copy constructors, and serialization.