edu.stanford.nlp.ling.LabelFactory.java Source code

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Here is the source code for edu.stanford.nlp.ling.LabelFactory.java

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package edu.stanford.nlp.ling;

/**
 * A <code>LabelFactory</code> object acts as a factory for creating
 * objects of class <code>Label</code>, or some descendant class.
 * It can also make Labels from Strings, optionally with options.
 *
 * @author Christopher Manning
 * @version 2000/12/25
 */
public interface LabelFactory {

    /**
     * Make a new label with this <code>String</code> as the
     * <code>value</code>.
     * Any other fields of the label would normally be <code>null</code>.
     *
     * @param labelStr The String that will be used for value
     * @return The new Label
     */
    public Label newLabel(String labelStr);

    /**
     * Make a new label with this <code>String</code> as the value, and
     * the type determined in an implementation-dependent way from the
     * options value.
     *
     * @param labelStr The String that will be used for value
     * @param options  May determine what kind of label is created
     * @return The new Label
     */
    public Label newLabel(String labelStr, int options);

    /**
     * Make a new label.  The String argument will be decomposed into
     * multiple fields in an implementing class-specific way, in
     * accordance with the class's setFromString() method.
     *
     * @param encodedLabelStr The String that will be used for labelling the
     *                        object (by decoding it into parts)
     * @return The new Label
     */
    public Label newLabelFromString(String encodedLabelStr);

    /**
     * Create a new <code>Label</code>, where the label is formed from
     * the <code>Label</code> object passed in.  The new Label is
     * guaranteed to at least copy the <code>value()</code> of the
     * source label (if non-null); it may also copy other components
     * (this is implementation-specific).  However, if oldLabel is of
     * the same type as is produced by the factory, then the whole
     * label should be cloned, so that the returnedLabel.equals(oldLabel).
     * <i>Implementation note:</i> That last sentence isn't true of all
     * current implementations (e.g., WordTag), but we should make it
     * so that it is true!
     *
     * @param oldLabel The Label that the new label is being created from
     * @return The new label of a particular type
     */
    public Label newLabel(Label oldLabel);

}