/*
 * $Id$
 */

package edu.jas.structure;


import java.io.Serializable;


/**
 * Element interface. Basic functionality of elements, e.g. compareTo, equals,
 * clone. 
 * Note: extension of Cloneable removed in
 * 2012-08-18, clone() is renamed to copy().
 * @param  element type. See the discussion in 
 * Bloch on Cloning.
 * @author Heinz Kredel
 */

public interface Element> extends Comparable, Serializable {


    /**
     * Clone this Element.
     * @return Creates and returns a copy of this Element.
     */
    public C copy();


    /**
     * Test if this is equal to b.
     * @param b
     * @return true if this is equal to b, else false.
     */
    public boolean equals(Object b);


    /**
     * Hashcode of this Element.
     * @return the hashCode.
     */
    public int hashCode();


    /**
     * Compare this to b. I.e. this < b iff this.compareTo(b) < 0.
     * Note: may not be meaningful if structure has no order.
     * @param b
     * @return 0 if this is equal to b, -1 if this is less then b, else +1.
     */
    public int compareTo(C b);


    /**
     * Get the corresponding element factory.
     * @return factory for this Element.
     */
    public ElemFactory factory();


    /**
     * Get a scripting compatible string representation.
     * @return script compatible representation for this Element.
     */
    public String toScript();


    /**
     * Get a scripting compatible string representation of the factory.
     * @return script compatible representation for this ElemFactory.
     */
    public String toScriptFactory();

}