code: /**
   * Copyright (c) 2005, Regents of the University of California
   * All rights reserved.
   *
   * Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
   * modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
   * are met:
   *
   * Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice,
   * this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
   *
   * Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
   * notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
   * documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
   *
   * Neither the name of the University of California, Los Angeles nor the
   * names of its contributors may be used to endorse or promote products
   * derived from this software without specific prior written permission.
   *
   * THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS
   * "AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT
   * LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR
   * A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT
   * OWNER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL,
   * SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT
   * LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE,
   * DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY
   * THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT
   * (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE
   * OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
   */
  
  package avrora.arch;
  
  /**
   * The <code>AbstractArchitecture</code> interface represents an instruction set architecture generated by jIntGen. This
   * interface allows tools to be written that are independent of a particular instruction set architecture. This
   * interface has methods to get information about instructions, disassemblers, and assemblers for this architecture.
   *
   * @author jIntGen
   */
  public interface AbstractArchitecture {
  
      /**
       * The <code>getDisassembler()</code> method returns an instance of the appropriate
       * disassembler for the architecture. The disassembler can be used to decode binary
       * instructions into <code>AbstractInstr</code> instances of the appropriate type.
       * @return an instance of the <code>AbstractDisassembler</code> interface appropriate
       * for this architecture
       */
      public AbstractDisassembler getDisassembler();
  
      /**
       * The <code>getAssembler()</code> method returns an instance of the appropriate
       * assembler for the architecture. The assembler can be used to translate an instruction
       * instance into its binary encoding.
       * @return an instance of the <code>AbstractAssembler</code> interface appropriate
       * for this architecture
       */
      public AbstractAssembler getAssembler();
  
      /**
       * The <code>getParser()</code> method returns an instance of the appropriate source-assembly
       * parser for this architecture. The parser can be used to convert text assembly (i.e.
       * a source file) into instances of the appropriate instruction class.
       * @return an instance of the <code>AbstractParser</code> interface appropriate
       * for this architecture
       */
      public AbstractParser getParser();
  
      /**
       * The <code>newInstrArray()</code> method returns a new array for holding references
       * to instruction instances. Because of Java's covariant array types, implementations of
       * this method can allocate an array of their appropriate architecture-specific instruction
       * class implementation. Stores into the array are automatically checked by the Java VM
       * to ensure that only instruction objects of the appropriate class are stored into the
       * array.
       * @param len the length of the array to allocation
       * @return a reference to a new array that can be used to store instructions
       */
      public AbstractInstr[] newInstrArray(int len);
  }
  