@Override
    public void encodeThis(ByteBuffer target) {
        super.encodeThis(target);
        IntegerCompressor.putCompressedPositiveNumber(alternatives.size(), target);
        for (Alternative a : alternatives) {
            Item p = new PureWeightedString(a.word, (int) (getWeight() * a.exactness + 0.5));
            p.setFilter(isFilter());
            p.encode(target);
        }
    }
Return an immutable snapshot of the contained terms. This list will not reflect later changes to the item.

@return an immutable list of word alternatives and their respective scores
container-search/src/main/java/com/yahoo/prelude/query/WordAlternativesItem.java