/*
 * File:                AnytimeAlgorithm.java
 * Authors:             Kevin R. Dixon
 * Company:             Sandia National Laboratories
 * Project:             Cognitive Foundry
 * 
 * Copyright Dec 11, 2007, Sandia Corporation.  Under the terms of Contract
 * DE-AC04-94AL85000, there is a non-exclusive license for use of this work by
 * or on behalf of the U.S. Government. Export of this program may require a
 * license from the United States Government. See CopyrightHistory.txt for
 * complete details.
 * 
 */

package gov.sandia.cognition.algorithm;

import gov.sandia.cognition.annotation.CodeReview;
import gov.sandia.cognition.annotation.PublicationReference;
import gov.sandia.cognition.annotation.PublicationType;

/**
 * The {@code AnytimeAlgorithm} interface defines the functionality of an
 * iterative algorithm that is stoppable and can return intermediate results. 
 * 
 * @param   <ResultType> The type of the result generated by the algorithm.
 * @author  Justin Basilico
 * @author  Kevin R. Dixon
 * @since   2.0
 * @see     IterativeAlgorithm
 * @see     StoppableAlgorithm
 */
@CodeReview(
    reviewer="Kevin R. Dixon",
    date="2008-02-08",
    changesNeeded=false,
    comments="Interface looks fine."
)
@PublicationReference(
    author="Shlomo Zilberstein",
    title="Using Anytime Algorithms in Intelligent Systems",
    type=PublicationType.Journal,
    publication="AI Magazine",
    year=1996,
    pages={73,83},
    url="http://anytime.cs.umass.edu/~shlomo/papers/aimag96.pdf"
)
public interface AnytimeAlgorithm<ResultType>
    extends IterativeAlgorithm, StoppableAlgorithm
{

    /**
     * Gets the maximum number of total iterations before stopping.
     *
     * @return  
     *      Maximum number of total iterations before stopping. Must be greater
     *      than zero.
     */
    int getMaxIterations();

    /**
     * Sets the maximum number of total iterations before stopping.
     * 
     * @param   maxIterations 
     *          Maximum number of iterations before stopping. Must be greater 
     *          than zero.
     */
    void setMaxIterations(
        int maxIterations);

    /**
     * Gets the current result of the algorithm.
     * 
     * @return Current result of the algorithm.
     */
    ResultType getResult();

}