001/**
002 * Copyright (c) 2011, The University of Southampton and the individual contributors.
003 * All rights reserved.
004 *
005 * Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification,
006 * are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:
007 *
008 *   *  Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice,
009 *      this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
010 *
011 *   *  Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice,
012 *      this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation
013 *      and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
014 *
015 *   *  Neither the name of the University of Southampton nor the names of its
016 *      contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this
017 *      software without specific prior written permission.
018 *
019 * THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS" AND
020 * ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED
021 * WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE
022 * DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT OWNER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR
023 * ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES
024 * (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES;
025 * LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON
026 * ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT
027 * (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS
028 * SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
029 */
030package org.openimaj.experiment.evaluation;
031
032/**
033 * {@link Evaluator}s are used to perform evaluations. Evaluations
034 * consist of two steps:
035 * <ul>
036 *      <li>Running, or, evaluating the system and collecting the raw results.</li>
037 *  <li>Analysing the raw results</li>
038 * </ul>
039 * 
040 * @author Jonathon Hare (jsh2@ecs.soton.ac.uk)
041 *
042 * @param <T> Type of raw result produced by {@link Evaluator}
043 * @param <Q> Type of analysed result produced by {@link Evaluator} 
044 */
045public interface Evaluator<T, Q extends AnalysisResult> {
046        /**
047         * Run, or evaluate the system, returning the raw data.
048         * @return the raw data
049         */
050        public T evaluate();
051        
052        /**
053         * Analyse the raw data produced by a call to
054         * {@link #evaluate()} and return the analysed data.
055         * @param rawData the raw data.
056         * @return the analysed data
057         */
058        public Q analyse(T rawData);
059}