/*
 * Copyright (C) 1999-2004 <a href="mailto:mandarax@jbdietrich.com">Jens Dietrich</a>
 *
 * This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
 * modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public
 * License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either
 * version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
 *
 * This library 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
 * Lesser General Public License for more details.
 *
 * You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public
 * License along with this library; if not, write to the Free Software
 * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA  02111-1307  USA
 */
package org.mandarax.kernel;


/**
 * Interface of a unification algorithm used to promote modularity of inference engines.
 *
 * @author <A HREF="mailto:mandarax@jbdietrich.com">Jens Dietrich</A>
 * @author <A HREF="mailto:a.kozlenkov@city.ac.uk">Alex Kozlenkov</A>
 * @version 3.3.1 <9 August 2004>
 * @since 1.0
 *        Prova re-integration modifications
 */
public interface UnificationAlgorithm {

	/**
	 * Unify the two arrays of terms. Return Unification.noUnificationPossible if unifiction fails.
	 *
	 * @param t1      the first array of terms
	 * @param t2      the second array of terms
	 * @param session a session
	 * @return the unification computed
	 */
	Unification unify( Term[] t1, Term[] t2, Session session );

	/**
	 * Prova version.
	 * Unify the two arrays of terms. Return Unification.noUnificationPossible if unifiction fails.
	 *
	 * @param t1 the first array of terms
	 * @param t2 the second array of terms
	 * @return the unification computed
	 */
	Unification unify( Term[] t1, Term[] t2, boolean isRule );

	Unification unify2( Term[] t1, Term[] t2, boolean isRule );
}
