abstract fun merge(@Nullable parent: Any): Any
Merge the current value set with that of the supplied object.
The supplied object is considered the parent, and values in the callee's value set must override those of the supplied object.
parent - the object to merge with
IllegalArgumentException - if the supplied parent is null
IllegalStateException - if merging is not enabled for this instance (i.e. mergeEnabled equals false).
Return
the result of the merge operation