/*
Copyright 1999 CERN - European Organization for Nuclear Research.
Permission to use, copy, modify, distribute and sell this software and its documentation for any purpose
is hereby granted without fee, provided that the above copyright notice appear in all copies and
that both that copyright notice and this permission notice appear in supporting documentation.
CERN makes no representations about the suitability of this software for any purpose.
It is provided "as is" without expressed or implied warranty.
*/

package org.apache.mahout.math.function;

/**
 * Interface that represents a procedure object: a procedure that takes a single argument and does not return a value.
 */
public interface ObjectProcedure<T> {

  /**
   * Applies a procedure to an argument. Optionally can return a boolean flag to inform the object calling the
   * procedure.
   *
   * <p>Example: forEach() methods often use procedure objects. To signal to a forEach() method whether iteration should
   * continue normally or terminate (because for example a matching element has been found), a procedure can return
   * <tt>false</tt> to indicate termination and <tt>true</tt> to indicate continuation.
   *
   * @param element element passed to the procedure.
   * @return a flag  to inform the object calling the procedure.
   */
  boolean apply(T element);
}
