001 /*
002 * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
003 * contributor license agreements. See the NOTICE file distributed with
004 * this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
005 * The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
006 * (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
007 * the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at
008 *
009 * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
010 *
011 * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
012 * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
013 * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
014 * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
015 * limitations under the License.
016 */
017 package org.apache.commons.math.genetics;
018
019 /**
020 * A collection of chromosomes that facilitates generational evolution.
021 *
022 * @since 2.0
023 * @version $Revision: 811685 $ $Date: 2009-09-05 13:36:48 -0400 (Sat, 05 Sep 2009) $
024 */
025 public interface Population extends Iterable<Chromosome> {
026 /**
027 * Access the current population size.
028 * @return the current population size.
029 */
030 int getPopulationSize();
031
032 /**
033 * Access the maximum population size.
034 * @return the maximum population size.
035 */
036 int getPopulationLimit();
037
038 /**
039 * Start the population for the next generation.
040 * @return the beginnings of the next generation.
041 */
042 Population nextGeneration();
043
044 /**
045 * Add the given chromosome to the population.
046 * @param chromosome the chromosome to add.
047 */
048 void addChromosome(Chromosome chromosome);
049
050 /**
051 * Access the fittest chromosome in this population.
052 * @return the fittest chromosome.
053 */
054 Chromosome getFittestChromosome();
055 }