///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
// For information as to what this class does, see the Javadoc, below.       //
// Copyright (C) 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006,       //
// 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2014, 2015 by Peter Spirtes, Richard Scheines, Joseph   //
// Ramsey, and Clark Glymour.                                                //
//                                                                           //
// This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify      //
// it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by      //
// the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or         //
// (at your option) any later version.                                       //
//                                                                           //
// This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,           //
// but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of            //
// MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the             //
// GNU General Public License for more details.                              //
//                                                                           //
// You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License         //
// along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software               //
// Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA  02111-1307  USA //
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

package edu.cmu.tetrad.data;

import edu.cmu.tetrad.graph.Node;
import edu.cmu.tetrad.util.TetradSerializable;

import java.util.List;

/**
 * Inteface implemented by classes, instantiations of which are associated with
 * lists of variables. Such lists of variables are used for a number of
 * purposes--creating data sets, creating graphs, comparing one data to another,
 * and so on.
 *
 * @author Joseph Ramsey
 */
public interface VariableSource extends TetradSerializable {
    long serialVersionUID = 23L;

    /**
     * @return the list of variables associated with this object.
     */
    List<Node> getVariables();

    /**
     * @return the variable names associated with this getVariableNames.
     */
    List<String> getVariableNames();
}