01: package org.ofbiz.rules.engine;
02:
03: /**
04: * <p><b>Title:</b> Axiom Source
05: * <p><b>Description:</b> None
06: * <p>Copyright (c) 1999 Steven J. Metsker.
07: * <p>Copyright (c) 2001 The Open For Business Project - www.ofbiz.org
08: *
09: * <p>Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a
10: * copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"),
11: * to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation
12: * the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense,
13: * and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the
14: * Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
15: *
16: * <p>The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included
17: * in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
18: *
19: * <p>THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS
20: * OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF
21: * MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT.
22: * IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY
23: * CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT
24: * OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR
25: * THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
26: *
27: * <br>
28: * <p>An AxiomSource is a provider of axioms.
29: * <p>
30: * Within the package sjm.engine, the only provider of
31: * axioms is Program. The AxiomSource interface
32: * allows other types of object to provide axioms,
33: * specifically objects that act as databases and
34: * provide lots of facts.
35: *
36: * @author Steven J. Metsker
37: * @version 1.0
38: */
39: public interface AxiomSource {
40:
41: /**
42: * Returns all the axioms from a source.
43: *
44: * @return all the axioms from a source
45: */
46: AxiomEnumeration axioms();
47:
48: /**
49: * Returns an enumeration of axioms. The parameter
50: * specifies the structure that is trying to prove itself.
51: * The implementor of this method can ignore this, or
52: * use it as an index.
53: * <p>
54: * An axiom has a chance of serving to prove the
55: * structure only if the axiom begins with a structure
56: * that matches the input structure with regard to its
57: * functor and its number or terms (or "arity"). An implementor
58: * can put this point to good purpose, only returning
59: * axioms that have some chance of providing a proof.
60: *
61: * @param Structure the structure that is trying to prove itself
62: *
63: * @return a collection of axioms
64: */
65: AxiomEnumeration axioms(Structure s);
66: }
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