001/* A mapping from an arbitrary domain of values into some range.
002
003 Copyright (c) 2003-2013 The University of Maryland.
004 All rights reserved.
005 Permission is hereby granted, without written agreement and without
006 license or royalty fees, to use, copy, modify, and distribute this
007 software and its documentation for any purpose, provided that the above
008 copyright notice and the following two paragraphs appear in all copies
009 of this software.
010
011 IN NO EVENT SHALL THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND BE LIABLE TO ANY PARTY
012 FOR DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES
013 ARISING OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE AND ITS DOCUMENTATION, EVEN IF
014 THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
015 SUCH DAMAGE.
016
017 THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIMS ANY WARRANTIES,
018 INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
019 MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. THE SOFTWARE
020 PROVIDED HEREUNDER IS ON AN "AS IS" BASIS, AND THE UNIVERSITY OF
021 MARYLAND HAS NO OBLIGATION TO PROVIDE MAINTENANCE, SUPPORT, UPDATES,
022 ENHANCEMENTS, OR MODIFICATIONS.
023
024
025 */
026package ptolemy.graph.mapping;
027
028///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
029//// Mapping
030
031/** A mapping from some domain of values into some range.
032 Mappings are different from Maps (see {@link java.util.List}) in that the set
033 of keys (domain values) is not necessarily stored with or even known to a
034 Mapping.  Enumeration of or iteration through the domain values is thus not in
035 general possible.
036 <p>
037 This is a base interface for specific mappings. For efficiency, the derived
038 mappings should define their own methods to actually perform the associated
039 mapping function. These methods can thus be specialized, for example, to return
040 the desired return type (rather than an Object). Also, derived Mappings
041 may choose, again for efficiency reasons, to forego any error-checking
042 in the methods that implement their mapping functions (i.e, they may
043 assume that the arguments are in the corresponding domains). In such cases,
044 the {@link #inDomain(Object)} method can be used when it is desired
045 to make sure that that a candidate argument is in the domain.
046
047 @since Ptolemy II 4.0
048 @Pt.ProposedRating Red (ssb)
049 @Pt.AcceptedRating Red (ssb)
050 @author Shuvra S. Bhattacharyya, Shahrooz Shahparnia
051 @version $Id$
052 */
053public interface Mapping {
054    ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
055    ////                         public methods                    ////
056
057    /** Returns true if a given object is in the domain of the mapping.
058     *
059     *  @param object The given object.
060     *  @return True if a given object is in the domain of the mapping
061     */
062    public boolean inDomain(Object object);
063
064    /** Return the object associated with the given object in the mapping.
065     *
066     *  @param object The given object.
067     *  @return Return the object associated with the given object in the
068     *  mapping.
069     */
070    public Object toObject(Object object);
071}