's, which are not Elements).
- * If you want the latter, use the getTokenTopology() method.
+ *
+ * This class is a topology over itself (yes, that's sort of Frege'd
+ * up) so that Atoms can be intersected and unioned with each other
+ * to result in other Atom's (rather than raw Topology's, which
+ * are not Elements). If you want the latter, use the
+ * getTokenTopology() method.
+ *
*/
public abstract class Atom extends Element implements Topology> {
/** the set (topology) of tokens that can match this element */
public abstract Topology getTokenTopology();
- public abstract StringBuffer toString(StringBuffer sb);
+ StringBuffer toString(StringBuffer sb) { sb.append(this); return sb; }
+
}
+