Gen.h

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/***************************************************************************
 *   Copyright (C) 2008-2011 LpzRobots development team                    *
 *    Joerg Weider   <joergweide84 at aol dot com> (robot12)               *
 *    Georg Martius  <georg dot martius at web dot de>                     *
 *    Frank Guettler <guettler at informatik dot uni-leipzig dot de        *
 *    Frank Hesse    <frank at nld dot ds dot mpg dot de>                  *
 *    Ralf Der       <ralfder at mis dot mpg dot de>                       *
 *    Joern Hoffmann <jhoffmann at informatik dot uni-leipzig dot de       *
 *                                                                         *
 *   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.,                                       *
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 *                                                                         *
 ***************************************************************************/

#ifndef GEN_H_
#define GEN_H_

// standard includes
#include <string>

// forward declarations

// gen. alg. includes
#include "IValue.h"
#include "GenPrototype.h"

/**
 * The Gen class.
 *
 *   This class is used for representing one gen in the gen. alg.
 *   It has one ID which make it individual and an name (string)
 *   which group it with other gens to a gen pool.
 *   Also it has a IValue which is used to save the real value.
 *   An IValue can be a number, a matrix, a 3D Modell or something else.
 *
 *   Places for saving the gen inside the gen. alg. are the GenContext,
 *   the Individual and the GenEngine. Deleting only in the GenEngine!
 */
class Gen {
public:
        /**
         * constructor to create a gen. Information which the class need are
         * the prototype (name an group of gens) and the id, which the gen
         * identified.
         *
         * @param prototype (GenPrototype*) Pointer to the prototype.
         * @param id (int) ID of the gen
         */
        Gen(GenPrototype* prototype, int id);

        /**
         * destructor to delete a gen.
         */
        virtual ~Gen(void);

        /**
         * [const]
         * This function gives the Name of this Gen (name of the prototype) back.
         *
         * @return (string) Name of the Gen.
         */
        std::string getName(void)const;

        /**
         * [inline], [const]
         * This function gives the value which is saved in the Gen back.
         *
         * @return (IValue*) The value
         */
        inline IValue* getValue(void)const {return m_value;}

        /**
         * [inline]
         * This function change the saved pointer to the IValue. So the Gen changed his value.
         *
         * @param value (IVaue*) the new Value
         */
        inline void setValue(IValue* value) {m_value=value;}

        /**
         * [inline], [const]
         * This function gives the ID of the Gen back.
         *
         * @return (int) The ID
         */
        inline int getID(void)const {return m_ID;}

        /**
         * [const]
         * This function gives the prototype of the Gen back.
         *
         * @return (GenPrototyp*) The prototype
         */
        GenPrototype* getPrototype(void)const;

        /**
         *  [const]
         *  This function returns a string representation of this Gen.
         *
         *  @return (string) The Gen in string - Form
         */
        std::string toString(bool onlyValue = true)const;

        /**
         * store the gene in a file
         * @param f (FILE*) the file to store
         * @return (bool) true if all ok
         */
        bool store(FILE* f)const;

protected:
        /**
         * (IValue*)
         * The value of the Gen.
         */
        IValue* m_value;

        /**
         * (GenPrototyp*)
         * The prototype of the Gen. After creating unchangeable.
         */
        GenPrototype* m_prototype;

        /**
         * (int)
         * The ID of the Gen. The ID is individual. Every Gen has his own.
         */
        int m_ID;

private:
        /**
         * disable default constructor
         */
        Gen(void);
};

#endif /* GEN_H_ */