001    ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
002    // Copyright (c) 2006, Frank S. Nestel, All Rights Reserved.
003    //
004    // This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
005    // modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public
006    // License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either
007    // version 2.1 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
008    //
009    // This library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
010    // but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
011    // MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
012    // GNU General Public License for more details.
013    //
014    // You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public
015    // License along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
016    // Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA  02111-1307, USA.
017    ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
018    
019    package de.spieleck.app.turn;
020    
021    /**
022     * Implementations of this are responsible for dividing the
023     * number of players into boards or tables.
024     * <br />
025     * A SplittingMode for chess tournaments will propose splitting the tourney
026     * into pairs of players. The same would happen for team bridge. For 
027     * a individual bridge tournament however a splitter should suggest
028     * splitting players in quadruples.
029     * <br />
030     * Implementations of {@link PairingMode} should be able to handle
031     * the suggested splittings. 
032     *
033     * <p><a href="$URL: https://svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/jtourney/src/de/spieleck/app/turn/SplittingMode.java $">$URL: https://svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/jtourney/src/de/spieleck/app/turn/SplittingMode.java $</a></p>
034     *
035     * @author Frank S. Nestel
036     * @author $Author: nestefan $
037     * @version $Revision: 2 $ $Date: 2006-03-20 14:33:27 +0100 (Mo, 20 Mrz 2006) $ $Author: nestefan $
038     */
039    public interface SplittingMode
040        extends LineSourceInited
041    {
042        /**
043         * Return optimal playing number.
044         * <br />
045         * This can be used e.g. for determining a final round of the top-n
046         * participants. 
047         */
048        public int optimal();
049    
050        /** 
051         * Return a split.
052         * <br />
053         * That is a[i] is the number of groups of size i.
054         * This must satisfy the condition sum(a[i]*i) = total;
055         * Well actually sum(a[i]*i) &lt; total is allowed and 
056         * means that players have to sit out!
057         * <br />
058         * Example: Consider 25 players for a game which works
059         * with 4 or 5 players. The splitting might either be [0,0,0,0,0,5]
060         * suggesting 5 tables with 5 players. But if the game plays better
061         * with 4 players, the splitting might better be [0,0,0,0,5,1], that
062         * is suggest to distribute the 25 players to 5 tables of 4 players
063         * and to 1 table of 5 players.
064         */
065        public int[] split(int total);
066    }