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/*******************************************************************************
 * Copyright 2016 Guy Davenport
 *
 * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
 * You may obtain a copy of the License at
 *
 *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
 *
 * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
 * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
 * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
 * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 * limitations under the License.
 *******************************************************************************/

package uno.informatics.data;

public interface Entity extends SimpleEntity {

    /**
     * Get a description for this entity
     * 
     * @return a description for this entity
     */
    public String getDescription();

    /**
     * Gets a short abbreviation that can be used in place of the name.
     * 
     * @return a short abbreviation that can be used in place of the name, or
     *         null if no abbreviation is available
     */
    public String getAbbreviation();

    /**
     * Gets the type of this entity as defined in a specific ontology.
     * 
     * @return the type of this entity, null if the type has no defined, or
     *         null if the type is not defined is available
     */
    public OntologyTerm getType();

}