01 /*
02 * Java Genetic Algorithm Library (jenetics-3.0.0).
03 * Copyright (c) 2007-2014 Franz Wilhelmstötter
04 *
05 * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
06 * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
07 * You may obtain a copy of the License at
08 *
09 * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
10 *
11 * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
12 * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
13 * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
14 * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
15 * limitations under the License.
16 *
17 * Author:
18 * Franz Wilhelmstötter (franz.wilhelmstoetter@gmx.at)
19 */
20 package org.jenetics;
21
22 import java.io.Serializable;
23
24 import org.jenetics.util.Factory;
25 import org.jenetics.util.Verifiable;
26
27 /**
28 * Genes are the atoms of the <em>Jenetics</em> library. They contain the actual
29 * information (alleles) of the encoded solution. All implementations of the
30 * this interface are final, immutable and can be only created via static
31 * factory methods which have the name {@code of}. When extending the library
32 * with own {@code Gene} implementations, it is recommended to also implement it
33 * as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Value_object">value objects</a>.
34 *
35 * @see <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Value_object">Value object</a>
36 *
37 * @param <A> the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allele">Allele</a> type
38 * of this gene.
39 *
40 * @author <a href="mailto:franz.wilhelmstoetter@gmx.at">Franz Wilhelmstötter</a>
41 * @since 1.0
42 * @version 2.0 — <em>$Date: 2014-12-28 $</em>
43 */
44 public interface Gene<A, G extends Gene<A, G>>
45 extends
46 Factory<G>,
47 Serializable,
48 Verifiable
49 {
50
51 /**
52 * Return the allele of this gene.
53 *
54 * @return the allele of this gene.
55 */
56 public A getAllele();
57
58 /**
59 * Return a new, random gene with the same type and with the same constraints
60 * than this gene. For all genes returned by this method holds
61 * {@code gene.getClass() == gene.newInstance().getClass()}. Implementations
62 * of this method has to use the {@link java.util.Random} object which can
63 * be fetched from the {@link org.jenetics.util.RandomRegistry}.
64 */
65 @Override
66 public G newInstance();
67
68 /**
69 * Create a new gene from the given {@code value} and the gene context.
70 *
71 * @since 2.0
72 * @param value the value of the new gene.
73 * @return a new gene with the given value.
74 */
75 public G newInstance(final A value);
76
77 }
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