clone() method in Java

Question

as I understood, the method clone() gives us the ability to copy object (no refernce) in Java. But I also read, that the copy is shallow. So what the point? Which a

Answer 1

to clone in depth you have to implement Cloneable and override clone()

public class MyClass implements Cloneable {

private Object attr = new Object();

@Override
public Object clone() throws CloneNotSupportedException {
    MyClass clone = (MyClass)super.clone();
    clone.attr = new Object();
    return clone;
}

@Override
public String toString() {
    return super.toString()+", attr=" + attr;
}

public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
    MyClass x = new MyClass();
    System.out.println("X="+x);
    MyClass y = (MyClass)x.clone();
    System.out.println("Y="+y);
}

}