🚀 go-pugleaf

Im having a problem with the Cloneable interface that I really cant
understand.

Example 1

1. public void copy(TargetNode node) {
2.     if (node instanceof Cloneable) {
3.        TargetNode newNode = (TargetNode) ((Cloneable)node).clone();
        -
        -

TargetNode is an interface.

When I compile this code a get an error on line 3, "method clone has
protected access in class java.lang.Object". The same thing happens when
you compile something like this:

Example 2
        -
        Cloneable n  =  (Cloneable)node;
        Object o  =  n.clone();
        -

The second line generates a compile time error. I know that clone() is
protected in Object but since "node" (expample 1) and "n" (example 2) is
of type "Cloneable"  I cant understand why the compiler complains when
the "Cloneable" interface declares clone() as public.

The way I see it the compiler can't tell what the datatype will be at
runtime but it knows that it should be a class that implements Cloneable
and thereby has a public clone() method implemented. So why does it use
the Object class for access checking of clone() in my expamples above
instead of just the Cloneable interface alone ?

Can anyone explain this to me ?

Mikael Lindkvist