org.micropsi.nodenet
Class Slot

java.lang.Object
  org.micropsi.nodenet.Slot

public final class Slot

extends java.lang.Object

Slots are the endpoints of links. During activation propagation, slots collect the activation of the incoming links.

There isn't much magic to slots - they are basically a varible with the incoming activation and a list of incoming links to allow an entity to unlink itself.

Field Summary

protected double

activation The slot's activation.

Constructor Summary

protected

Slot(int type, NetEntity center, NetEntityManager manager) Creates a new Slot.

Method Summary

protected java.util.ArrayList	accessIncomingLinks() Provides direct access to the list of incoming links.
protected void	attachIncomingLink(Link link) Attaches an incoming link.
protected void	destroy() Frees as many references as possible to avoid too much gc activity
protected void	detachIncomingLink(Link link) Detaches an incoming link.
double	getIncomingActivation() Returns the slot's activation.
Link	getIncomingLinkAt(int n) Returns the n-th link attached to the slot.
java.util.Iterator	getIncomingLinks() Retuns the instances of all incoming links.
NetEntity	getNetEntity() Returns the entity the slot belongs to.
int	getNumberOfIncomingLinks() Returns the number of links incoming at that gate.
int	getType() Returns the type of the slot.
boolean	hasIncomingLinks() Checks if this slot has incoming links
protected void	killActivation() Sets the slot's activation to zero.
protected void	putActivation(double act) Puts activation into the slot.
protected void	takeActivationGreaterThanZero(double act) Takes activation from the slot.
java.lang.String	toString()
protected void	unlinkCompletely() Unlinks the slot completely, that is: Kills all links that end at the slot.

Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object

clone, equals, finalize, getClass, hashCode, notify, notifyAll, wait, wait, wait

Field Detail

activation

protected double activation

The slot's activation.

Constructor Detail

Slot

protected Slot(int type,
               NetEntity center,
               NetEntityManager manager)

Creates a new Slot. Should only be called by implementations of NetEntity.

Parameters:

type - the type of the new slot

center - the NetEntity the Slot belongs to

manager - the entity manager

Method Detail

getType

public int getType()

Returns the type of the slot. Remember that there can only be one slot of a type at an entity.

Returns:

int the type

See Also:

SlotTypesIF

getNetEntity

public NetEntity getNetEntity()

Returns the entity the slot belongs to.

Returns:

NetEntity the entity

putActivation

protected void putActivation(double act)

Puts activation into the slot. Adds the activation value to the slot's value.

Parameters:

act - the value to be added to the slot's activation

takeActivationGreaterThanZero

protected void takeActivationGreaterThanZero(double act)

Takes activation from the slot. Decreases the slot's activation but only down to a minimum of zero.

Parameters:

act - the value to be substracted from the slot's activation

killActivation

protected void killActivation()

Sets the slot's activation to zero.

getIncomingActivation

public double getIncomingActivation()

Returns the slot's activation.

Returns:

double the slot's activation.

attachIncomingLink

protected void attachIncomingLink(Link link)

Attaches an incoming link. This method is low-level and does not check for net integrity nor does it ensure it. This method should only be called if the link contains this slot as its target.

Parameters:

link - the link to be added to the list of incoming links.

detachIncomingLink

protected void detachIncomingLink(Link link)

Detaches an incoming link. This method is low-level and does not care about net integrity. It should only be called if the link's instance is about to be dropped.

Parameters:

link - the link to be deleted from the list of incoming links.

getIncomingLinks

public java.util.Iterator getIncomingLinks()

Retuns the instances of all incoming links. Don't try remove(), you won't like the results.

Returns:

Iterator the links.

getIncomingLinkAt

public Link getIncomingLinkAt(int n)

Returns the n-th link attached to the slot.

Parameters:

n - the index of the link

Returns:

Link the n-th link or null if there is no such link.

hasIncomingLinks

public boolean hasIncomingLinks()

Checks if this slot has incoming links

Returns:

true if the slot has links

getNumberOfIncomingLinks

public int getNumberOfIncomingLinks()

Returns the number of links incoming at that gate.

Returns:

the number of links

accessIncomingLinks

protected java.util.ArrayList accessIncomingLinks()

Provides direct access to the list of incoming links. Know what you're doing when calling this. This is NOT a way to change the net's structure in any way!

Returns:

ArrayList the links

unlinkCompletely

protected void unlinkCompletely()

Unlinks the slot completely, that is: Kills all links that end at the slot. This method preserves the net's integrity and removes the links from the linking gates also.

toString

public java.lang.String toString()

See Also:

Object.toString()

destroy

protected void destroy()

Frees as many references as possible to avoid too much gc activity