This is a small utility class, whose main functionality is to allow simple reuse of raw byte/char buffers. It is usually used through
ThreadLocal
member of the owning class pointing to instance of this class through a
SoftReference
. The end result is a low-overhead GC-cleanable recycling: hopefully ideal for use by stream readers.
Regarding implementation: the key design goal is simplicity; and to that end, different types of buffers are handled separately. While code may look inelegant as a result (wouldn't it be neat to just have generic char[]/byte[] buffer accessors?), benefit is that no data structures are needed, just simple references. As long as usage pattern is well known (which it is, for stream readers) this should be highly optimal and robust implementation.