    // Copyright (C) 2005  Davis E. King (davis@dlib.net)
    // License: Boost Software License   See LICENSE.txt for the full license.
    #undef DLIB_LZP_BUFFER_KERNEl_ABSTRACT_
    #ifdef DLIB_LZP_BUFFER_KERNEl_ABSTRACT_

    #include "../algs.h"

    namespace dlib
    {

        class lzp_buffer
        {
            /*!
                INITIAL VALUE
                    size() == some value defined by the constructor argument
                    Initially this object is at some predefined empty or ground state.
                    for all i: (*this)[i] == 0

                WHAT THIS OBJECT REPRESENTS
                    This object represents some varation on the LZP algorithm
                    described by Charles Bloom in his paper "LZP: a new data
                    compression algorithm"

                    The LZP algorithm is a lot like lz77 except there is no need to pass
                    the location of matches in the history buffer to the decoder because
                    LZP uses the data it has already seen to predict the location of the
                    next match.

                NOTE
                    The add() and predict_match() functions must be called in the same
                    order by the coder and decoder.  If they aren't the state of the
                    lzp_buffer objects in the coder and decoder may differ and the decoder
                    won't be able to correctly decode the data stream.
            !*/

        public:

            explicit lzp_buffer (
                unsigned long buffer_size
            );
            /*!
                requires
                    - 10 < buffer_size < 32
                ensures
                    - #*this is properly initialized
                    - #size() == 2^buffer_size
                throws
                    - std::bad_alloc
            !*/

            virtual ~lzp_buffer (
            );
            /*!
                ensures
                    - any resources associated with *this have been released
            !*/

            void clear(
            );
            /*!
                ensures
                    - #*this has its initial value
                throws
                    - std::bad_alloc
                        if this exception is thrown then #*this is unusable
                        until clear() is called and succeeds
            !*/

            void add (
                unsigned char symbol
            );
            /*!
                ensures
                    - shifts everything in the history buffer left 1.
                      (i.e. #(*this)[i+1] == (*this)[i])
                    - #(*this)[0] == symbol
                throws
                    - std::bad_alloc
                        if this exception is thrown then #*this is unusable
                        until clear() is called and succeeds
            !*/

            unsigned long predict_match (
                unsigned long& index
            );
            /*!
                ensures
                    - updates the prediction for the current context.
                      (the current context is the last few symbols seen. i.e. (*this)[0],
                       (*this)[1], etc.)
                    - if (*this can generate a prediction) then
                        - #index == the predicted location of a match in the history buffer.
                          (i.e. (*this)[#index] is the first symbol of the predicted match)
                        - returns the order this prediction came from
                    - else
                        - returns 0
                throws
                    - std::bad_alloc
                        if this exception is thrown then #*this is unusable
                        until clear() is called and succeeds
            !*/

            unsigned long size (
            ) const;
            /*!
                ensures
                    - returns the size of the history buffer
            !*/

            unsigned char operator[] (
                unsigned long index
            ) const;
            /*!
                requires
                    - index < size()
                ensures
                    - returns the symbol at the given index in the history buffer
            !*/

        private:

            // restricted functions
            lzp_buffer(const lzp_buffer&);        // copy constructor
            lzp_buffer& operator=(const lzp_buffer&);    // assignment operator

        };
    }

    #endif // DLIB_LZP_BUFFER_KERNEl_ABSTRACT_