001/* 002 * BioJava development code 003 * 004 * This code may be freely distributed and modified under the 005 * terms of the GNU Lesser General Public Licence. This should 006 * be distributed with the code. If you do not have a copy, 007 * see: 008 * 009 * http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/lesser.html 010 * 011 * Copyright for this code is held jointly by the individual 012 * authors. These should be listed in @author doc comments. 013 * 014 * For more information on the BioJava project and its aims, 015 * or to join the biojava-l mailing list, visit the home page 016 * at: 017 * 018 * http://www.biojava.org/ 019 * 020 */ 021 022package org.biojava.bio.seq; 023 024/** 025 * The interface for filters that can potentialy optimize themselves, and 026 * compare themselves with other filters. 027 * 028 * @author Matthew Pocock 029 * @since 1.2 030 */ 031public interface OptimizableFilter extends FeatureFilter { 032 /** 033 * Returns true if this filter is a proper subset of sup - that is, for every 034 * feature that matches this, it also matches sup. The empty filter is a 035 * proper subset of all filters. All filters are a proper subset of the all 036 * filter. All filters are proper subsets of themselves. 037 * 038 * @param sup the potential super set 039 * @return true if sup contains all features contained by this filter 040 */ 041 public boolean isProperSubset(FeatureFilter sup); 042 043 /** 044 * Returns true if this filter is disjoint from filt - that is, there is no 045 * Feature that is accepted by both filters. The empty filter is disjoint from 046 * all other filters. The all filter is disjoint from none. 047 */ 048 public boolean isDisjoint(FeatureFilter filt); 049}