content: /*
   *    This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
   *    it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
   *    the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
   *    (at your option) any later version.
   *
   *    This program 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 General Public License for more details.
   *
   *    You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
   *    along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
   *    Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
   */
  
  /*
   *    Associator.java
   *    Copyright (C) 1999 University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand
   *
   */
  
  package weka.associations;
  
  import weka.core.Instances;
  import weka.core.Capabilities;
  
  public interface Associator {
  
    /**
     * Generates an associator. Must initialize all fields of the associator
     * that are not being set via options (ie. multiple calls of buildAssociator
     * must always lead to the same result). Must not change the dataset
     * in any way.
     *
     * @param data set of instances serving as training data 
     * @exception Exception if the associator has not been 
     * generated successfully
     */
    void buildAssociations(Instances data) throws Exception;
  
    /** 
     * Returns the Capabilities of this associator. Derived associators have to
     * override this method to enable capabilities.
     *
     * @return            the capabilities of this object
     * @see               Capabilities
     */
    Capabilities getCapabilities();
  }