/**
 * GameTreeSearcher.java - a simple interface for a game-tree
 * search class
 *
 * @author Todd W. Neller
 * @version 1.0 */

public interface GameTreeSearcher {

    /**
     * <code>eval</code> - Returns the estimated minimax value of
     * the given node.
     *
     * @param node a <code>GameNode</code> value
     * @return a <code>double</code> value - estimated minimax
     * value of node */
    double eval(GameNode node);

    /**
     * <code>getBestMove</code> - Returns the best move for the
     * node most recently evaluated.
     *
     * @return an <code>int</code> value encoding the move */
    int getBestMove();
    
    /**
     * <code>getNodeCount</code> - Returns the number of nodes
     * searched for the previous node evaluation
     *
     * @return an <code>int</code> value - number of nodes
     * searched */
    int getNodeCount();

}// GameTreeSearcher