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.math.geometry.point;
031
032import org.openimaj.io.ReadWriteable;
033
034/**
035 * Generic interface to get the distance along a dimension of an object
036 * representing a point in an n-dimensional space
037 *
038 * @author Jonathon Hare (jsh2@ecs.soton.ac.uk)
039 *
040 */
041public interface Coordinate extends ReadWriteable {
042        /**
043         * Get the ordinate value for a specific dimension.
044         * 
045         * @param dimension
046         *            The index of the dimension we are interested in
047         * @return The value of the ordinate of the given dimension.
048         * @exception IllegalArgumentException
049         *                if the Coordinate does not support the dimension.
050         */
051        public Number getOrdinate(int dimension);
052
053        /**
054         * Set the ordinate value for a specific dimension.
055         * 
056         * @param dimension
057         *            The index of the dimension we are interested in
058         * @param value
059         *            The value of the ordinate of the given dimension.
060         * @exception IllegalArgumentException
061         *                if the Coordinate does not support the dimension.
062         */
063        public void setOrdinate(int dimension, Number value);
064
065        /**
066         * @return The number of dimensions in the coordinate.
067         */
068        public int getDimensions();
069}