/*
This file is part of the algoviz@vt collection of algorithm
visualizations.

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 3
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 distribution. If not, see
<http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
*/

package bst;
/**
 * @author Andrew
 */
public interface DictionaryADT<Key, Elem>
{
	/**
	 * Reinitialize dictionary
	 */
	void clear();

	/**
	 * Insert e into the dictionary
	 * 
	 * @param k The key for this element.
	 * @param e The element to insert.
	 */
	void insert(Key k, Elem e);

	/**
	 * Removes an element from the dictionary. This is different from Dr.
	 * Shaffer's C++ prototype, since an object cannot be passed back via a
	 * parameter in Java.
	 * 
	 * @param k The specified value associated with this key will be removed.
	 * @return Non-NULL if the removal was successful, NULL if it was
	 *         unsuccessful.
	 */
	Elem remove(Key k);

	/**
	 * This method differs in the same way that the remove method differs from
	 * the C++ version of the BST. Finds the element corresponding to k and
	 * returns it
	 * 
	 * @param k The key to look up.
	 * @return The element that was found, or NULL
	 */
	Node<Key,Elem> find(Key k);

	int size();
}