/*
 * [ToWords.java]
 *
 * Summary: Interface that all number-to-word translators must implement to be interchangeable.
 *
 * Copyright: (c) 1999-2017 Roedy Green, Canadian Mind Products, http://mindprod.com
 *
 * Licence: This software may be copied and used freely for any purpose but military.
 *          http://mindprod.com/contact/nonmil.html
 *
 * Requires: JDK 1.8+
 *
 * Created with: JetBrains IntelliJ IDEA IDE http://www.jetbrains.com/idea/
 *
 * Version History:
 *  1.0 1999-01-12 initial version
 */
package com.mindprod.inwords;

/**
 * Interface that all number-to-word translators must implement to be interchangeable.
 *
 * @author Roedy Green, Canadian Mind Products
 * @version 1.0 1999-01-12 initial version
 * @since 1999-01-12
 */
public interface ToWords
    {
    /**
     * translate number to words. e.g. -12345 to "minus twelve thousand three
     * hundred forty-five" usually implement a static version inWords that
     * toWords calls. public static String inWords (long num);
     * <p/>
     * instance method, for use in callbacks, class.forName("xxx").getInstance().inWords etc.
     *
     * @param num the number to convert to words.
     *
     * @return the number in spelled out in words.
     */
    public String toWords( long num );
    } // end InWords