Type Alias Cloneable<T>

Defines a type T that is cloneable, capable of being duplicated either implicitly as a Primitive or explicitly via a Clone implementation.

The Cloneable type encompasses all values that can be cloned into a new, independent instance. It is a union of:

• Primitive type: JavaScript primitives (e.g., number, string, boolean) that are inherently copied by value through assignment.
• Clone types: Types that provide an explicit clone() method to create a duplicate instance of T.

Inspired by Rust's distinction between Copy and Clone, this type captures:

• Implicit cloning: For Primitive types, where assignment (e.g., let y = x) creates a new copy due to their value semantics.
• Explicit cloning: For Clone types, where a clone() method must be invoked to produce a new instance.

This type is broader than Clone alone, as it includes both implicitly copyable primitives and explicitly cloneable types. For non-primitive types, the clone() method should return a distinct instance, though the depth of the copy (shallow or deep) depends on the implementation.

Example

// Primitive satisfies Cloneable<number>
const num: Cloneable<number> = 42;
const numCopy = num; // Implicitly copied by value
console.log(numCopy === num); // true (same value)

// Class satisfies Cloneable<MyType> via Clone<MyType>
class MyType implements Clone<MyType> {
  constructor(public value: number) {}
  clone(): MyType {
    return new MyType(this.value);
  }
}
const original = new MyType(42);
const duplicate = original.clone();
console.log(duplicate.value === original.value); // true (same value)
console.log(duplicate !== original); // true (different reference)
Copy