/*
* RapidMiner
*
* Copyright (C) 2001-2011 by Rapid-I and the contributors
*
* Complete list of developers available at our web site:
*
* http://rapid-i.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;
}