/*
* File: DivergenceFunction.java
* Authors: Justin Basilico and Kevin R. Dixon
* Company: Sandia National Laboratories
* Project: Cognitive Foundry
*
* Copyright February 21, 2006, 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.math;
import gov.sandia.cognition.annotation.CodeReview;
import gov.sandia.cognition.annotation.CodeReviews;
import gov.sandia.cognition.util.CloneableSerializable;
/**
* The DivergenceFunction class defines the functionality of something that
* computes the divergence between two objects. A divergence function should
* have the following properties:
*
* g(x, y) >= 0
* g(x, x) == 0
*
* It is recommended that an {@link DivergenceFunction} implement
* {@link CloneableSerializable}, though it is not required.
*
* @param <FirstType> First class to consider
* @param <SecondType> Second class to consider
* @author Justin Basilico
* @author Kevin R. Dixon
* @since 1.0
*/
@CodeReviews(
reviews={
@CodeReview(
reviewer="Kevin R. Dixon",
date="2008-02-26",
changesNeeded=false,
comments="Looks good."
),
@CodeReview(
reviewer="Jonathan McClain",
date="2006-05-16",
changesNeeded=false,
comments="Looks good."
)
}
)
public interface DivergenceFunction<FirstType, SecondType>
{
/**
* Evaluates the divergence between the two given objects.
*
* @param first The first object.
* @param second The second object.
* @return The divergence between the objects.
*/
public double evaluate(
FirstType first,
SecondType second );
}