package com.wickedcooljava.sci.component;

/*
Example code from Wicked Cool Java (No Starch Press)
Copyright (C) 2005 Brian D. Eubanks

This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public
License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either
version 2.1 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This library 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
Lesser General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public
License along with this library; if not, write to the Free Software
Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA  02110-1301  USA

Note: The LGPL licence can be found online at http://www.gnu.org

*/
/**
 * A generic interface for components that process any type of data.
 * A component has an specific number of input and output ports that connect
 * to other components, and performs some process that converts inputs into outputs.
 */
public interface Component<T> {

	/// get the number of input ports
	public int getInputSize();

	/// get the number of output ports
	public int getOutputSize();

	/// get the nth input port
	public InputPort<T> getInputPort(int index);

	///get the nth output port
	public OutputPort<T> getOutputPort(int index);

	/// perform the component's processing
	public void process();

}