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/*
 * Zorbage: an algebraic data hierarchy for use in numeric processing.
 *
 * Copyright (c) 2016-2021 Barry DeZonia All rights reserved.
 * 
 * Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification,
 * are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:
 * 
 * Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list
 * of conditions and the following disclaimer.
 * 
 * Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this
 * list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other
 * materials provided with the distribution.
 * 
 * Neither the name of the  nor the names of its contributors may
 * be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software without specific
 * prior written permission.
 * 
 * THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS" AND
 * ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED
 * WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED.
 * IN NO EVENT SHALL  BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL,
 * SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO,
 * PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR
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 */
package example;

/**
 * @author Barry DeZonia
 */
class DataTypes {

	/*
	 * Zorbage supports many kinds of data types. They are documented separately in the
	 * following files in this same directory:
	 * 
	 *   Integers
	 *   FloatingTypes
	 *   
	 *   Complexes
	 *   Quaternions
	 *   Octonions
	 *   
	 *   Numbers
	 *   Vectors
	 *   Matrices
	 *   Tensors
	 *   
	 *   MiscTypes
	 *     booleans, characters, strings, rgb, argb, rationals, n-dimensional real points
	 *  
	 * Some things that are worth knowing about types in Zorbage:
	 * 
	 *   1) Zorbage defines most of it's algorithms around what we call "dumb" types.
	 *      By dumb we mean that for the most part types are passed around without
	 *      knowing their capabilities. This makes for very flexible code. Algebras
	 *      are passed to algorithms as needed and they know everything necessary
	 *      to manipulate their own types. Types tend to take on the abilities to
	 *      set/get values and some construction and conversion methods. To calculate
	 *      the distance between points you don't do pt1.distanceTo(pt2). You instead
	 *      do something more like pointAlgebra.distanceBetween(pt1, pt2). In the
	 *      first example Points would need to be smart. In the second example they
	 *      don't.
	 *      
	 *   2) Zorbage algorithms use this generality to be widely applicable to many
	 *      different types. In Zorbage numbers have been the main focus. But recently
	 *      fixed length strings were added. Because of the flexibility of the
	 *      algorithms and algebras the existing Sort algorithm just worked with lists
	 *      of strings. This is quite nice. If you, as a user, define a new type you
	 *      will find 100's of algorithms that will just work with them. One such
	 *      consideration is 128-bit floating point types. If they ever make it into
	 *      the Java language spec it will only take a few lines of code before all
	 *      the existing algorithms can be used with them. Another possibility: find
	 *      a software library that does 128-bit floating point in software. Wrap it
	 *      in a type and use it now. When 128-bit hardware floating point is supported
	 *      by Java then the guts of the type are rewritten and your old code will
	 *      continue working and just become faster.
	 *   
	 *   3) In Zorbage most types derive from the idea that their data can be specified
	 *      as a fixed record size made of primitive types (byte, short, int, long,
	 *      float, double). Since bytes are one of the choices you can represent all
	 *      kinds of logical types that aren't even numbers. This fixed record capability
	 *      is used to store types to and from disk as needed. If you can't describe
	 *      your type in fixed length primitives (for instance if they are made up of
	 *      Objects or BigIntegers or BigDecimals or Java Strings) you can still use
	 *      all of Zorbage's in memory structures and run all the existing algorithms
	 *      with them. And the data can still be huge (see BigListDataSource) provided
	 *      you have enough RAM.
	 *      
	 */
}