implement a discard function, closes #1101

virtdata-lib-basics/src/main/java/io/nosqlbench/virtdata/library/basics/shared/from_long/to_object/Discard.java

@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (c) 2022-2023 nosqlbench
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package io.nosqlbench.virtdata.library.basics.shared.from_long.to_object;
+
+import io.nosqlbench.virtdata.api.annotations.Categories;
+import io.nosqlbench.virtdata.api.annotations.Category;
+import io.nosqlbench.virtdata.api.annotations.ThreadSafeMapper;
+
+import java.util.function.LongFunction;
+
+
+/**
+ * This function takes a long input and ignores it. It returns a generic object which is meant to be used as input to
+ * other function which don't need a specific input.
+ */
+@ThreadSafeMapper
+@Categories({Category.general})
+public class Discard implements LongFunction<Object> {
+    Object object = "discard";
+
+    @Override
+    public Object apply(long value) {
+        return object;
+    }
+}