/**
* Copyright (C) 2001-2017 by RapidMiner and the contributors
*
* Complete list of developers available at our web site:
*
* http://rapidminer.com
*
* This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the
* GNU Affero General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3
* of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
*
* This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without
* even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU
* Affero General Public License for more details.
*
* You should have received a copy of the GNU Affero General Public License along with this program.
* If not, see http://www.gnu.org/licenses/.
*/
package com.rapidminer.operator;
/**
* This interface describes the (expected) input and (guaranteed) output classes of operators.
*
* @author Ingo Mierswa
*/
public interface IODescription {
/** Returns the classes that are expected as input. */
public abstract Class<?>[] getInputClasses();
/**
* Returns the output classes dependent on the outputBehaviour
* <ul>
* <li><tt>PASS_UNUSED_INPUT_TO_OUTPUT:</tt>output classes are the classes used in the
* constructor plus those classes in <tt>input[]</tt> that were not consumed. Classes are
* supposed to be consumed by the operator if they find a matching class in the input classes
* used in the constructor (which can be a superclass or interface)
* <li><tt>DELETE_UNUSED_INPUT:</tt>output classes are exactly those classes used in the
* constructor.
* </ul>
* In either case the output classes precede the unused input classes. Their order is conserved.
*/
public abstract Class<?>[] getOutputClasses(Class<?>[] input, Operator operator) throws IllegalInputException;
}