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Define
An annotation is a form of syntactic metadata that can be added to Java source code.
Classes, methods, variables, parameters and Java packages may be annotated.
―Replacement of marker interfaces:
―Better metadata management:
Creating an annotation
Annotations require:
1) A target: this defines where the annotation can be set
2) A retention: this describes up to which step in the compilation process the annotation will be available
Annotation parameters
Annotations can define parameters.
Parameters allow to add some level of configuration at the time the annotation is used.