source: trunk/EventBenchCore/src/de/ugoe/cs/eventbench/markov/IMemory.java @ 1

package de.ugoe.cs.eventbench.markov;

import java.util.List;

/**
 * <p>
 * This interface defines basic functions for classes that implement a memory
 * about the recent events of a sequences.
 * </p>
 * 
 * @author Steffen Herbold
 * @version 1.0
 * 
 * @param <T>
 *            Type of the sequence elements that are memorized.
 */
public interface IMemory<T> {

        /**
         * Adds an element to the end of the memory.
         * 
         * @param element
         *            Element to be added.
         */
        public void add(T element);

        /**
         * <p>
         * Returns the last <code>num</code> memorized elements. If the history is
         * shorter than <code>num</code>, the length of the returned
         * {@link java.util.List} may be less than <code>num</code>.
         * </p>
         * 
         * @param num
         *            Number of states from the end of the memory to be returned.
         * @return {@link java.util.List} of memorized elements.
         */
        public List<T> getLast(int num);

}