Differences Between Classes and Interfaces, Implementing Interfaces

Differences between classes and
interfaces,
Implementing Interfaces
Interface
• Using the keyword interface, you can fully
abstract a class’ interface from its
implementation.
• That is, using interface, you can specify what a
class must do, but not how it does it.
• Interfaces are syntactically similar to classes,
but they lack instance variables, and their
methods are declared without any body.
Interface-cont…
• In practice, this means that you can define
interfaces that don’t make assumptions about
how they are implemented.
• Once it is defined, any number of classes can
implement an interface. Also, one class can
implement any number of interfaces.
Interface-cont…
• To implement an interface, a class must create
the complete set of methods defined by the
interface.
• However, each class is free to determine the
details of its own implementation.
• By providing the interface keyword, Java allows
you to fully utilize the
“one interface, multiple methods”
aspect of polymorphism.
Interface-cont…
• Interfaces are designed to support dynamic
method resolution at run time.
• Normally, in order for a method to be called
from one class to another, both classes need
to be present at compile time so the Java
compiler can check to ensure that the method
signatures are compatible.
Interface-cont…
• This requirement by itself makes for a static
and non extensible classing environment.
• Inevitably in a system like this, functionality
gets pushed up higher and higher in the class
hierarchy so that the mechanisms will be
available to more and more subclasses.
• Interfaces are designed to avoid this problem.
Interface
• They disconnect the definition of a method or
set of methods from the inheritance hierarchy.
• Since interfaces are in a different hierarchy
from classes, it is possible for classes that are
unrelated in terms of the class hierarchy to
implement the same interface.
• This is where the real power of interfaces is
realized.
Defining an Interface
• An interface is defined much like a class. This is the
general form of an interface:
access interface name {
return-type method-name1(parameter-list);
return-type method-name2(parameter-list);
type final-varname1 = value;
type final-varname2 = value;
// ...
return-type method-nameN(parameter-list);
type final-varnameN = value;
}
Defining an Interface-cont...
• When no access specifier is included, then

default access results, and the interface is only
available to other members of the package in
which it is declared.
• When it is declared as public, the interface can
be used by any other code.
• In this case, the interface must be the only

public interface declared in the file, and the
file must have the same name as the interface.
• Name is the name of the interface, and can be
any valid identifier.
• Notice that the methods that are declared
have no bodies.
• They end with a semicolon after the

parameter list.
• They are, essentially, abstract methods; there
can be no default implementation of any
method specified within an interface.
• Each class that includes an interface must
implement all of the methods.
• Variables can be declared inside of interface

declarations. They are implicitly final and
static, meaning they cannot be changed by the
implementing class.
• They must also be initialized.
• All methods and variables are implicitly public.
• Here is an example of an interface definition.

• It declares a simple interface that contains one
method called callback( ) that takes a single
integer parameter.
interface Callback {
void callback(int param);
}
QUIZ
1. “Using interface, you can specify what a class must
do, but not how it does it”-Analyse the meaning
2. “Interfaces are syntactically similar to classes, but
they lack instance variables, and their methods are
declared without any body” -Analyse the meaning
3. Interfaces are designed to support dynamic
method resolution at run time- Analyse the
meaning
• Once an interface has been defined, one or
more classes can implement that interface.
• To implement an interface, include the
implements clause in a class definition, and
then create the methods defined by the
interface.
Implementing Interfaces-cont…
• The general form of a class that includes the
implements
clause looks like this:
class classname [extends superclass]
[implements interface [,interface...]]
{
// class-body
}
• If a class implements more than one interface,
the interfaces are separated with a comma.
• If a class implements two interfaces that
declare the same method, then the same
method will be used by clients of either
interface.
• The methods that implement an interface
must be declared public.
• Also, the type signature of the implementing
method must match exactly the type signature
specified in the interface definition.
• Here is a small example class that implements
the Callback interface shown earlier.
class Client implements Callback {
// Implement Callback's interface
public void callback(int p) {
System.out.println("callback called with " +
p);
}
}
• Notice that callback( ) is declared using the

public access specifier.
• REMEMBER When you implement an interface
method, it must be declared as public.
• It is both permissible and common for classes
that implement interfaces to define additional
members of their own.
• For example, the following version of Client
implements callback( ) and adds the method
nonIfaceMeth( ):
class Client implements Callback {
System.out.println("callback called with " + p);
}
void nonIfaceMeth() {
System.out.println("Classes that implement
interfaces " +
"may also define other members, too.");
}
}
Accessing Implementations through
Interface References
• You can declare variables as object references
that use an interface rather than a class type.
• Any instance of any class that implements the
declared interface can be referred to by such a
variable.
• When you call a method through one of these
references, the correct version will be called
based on the actual instance of the interface
being referred to.
Accessing Implementations Through
Interface References-cont…
• This is one of the key features of interfaces.
• The method to be executed is looked up
dynamically at run time, allowing classes to be
created later than the code which calls
methods on them.
• The calling code can dispatch through an
interface without having to know anything
about the “callee.”
LTC: Accessing Implementations Through
Interface References
The following example calls the callback( ) method via an
interface reference variable:
class TestIface {
public static void main(String args[]) {
Callback c = new Client();
c.callback(42);
}
}
The output of this program is shown here:
callback called with 42
• Notice that variable c is declared to be of the
interface type Callback, yet it was assigned an
instance of Client.
• Although c can be used to access the
callback( ) method, it cannot access any other
members of the Client class
• An interface reference variable only has
knowledge of the methods declared by its
interface declaration.
• Thus, c could not be used to access
nonIfaceMeth( ) since it is defined by Client
but not Callback.
• While the preceding example shows,
mechanically, how an interface reference
variable can access an implementation object,
it does not demonstrate the polymorphic
power of such a reference.
Accessing Implementations Through
Interface References-cont…
• To sample this usage, first create the second
implementation of Callback, shown here:
// Another implementation of Callback.
class AnotherClient implements Callback {
System.out.println("Another version of callback");
System.out.println("p squared is " + (p*p));
}}
• The output from this program is shown here:
callback called with 42
Another version of callback
p squared is 1764
• As you can see, the version of callback( ) that
is called is determined by the type of object
that c refers to at run time.
Partial Implementations
• If a class includes an interface but does not
fully implement the methods defined by that
interface, then that class must be declared as
abstract.
Partial Implementations-cont…
• For example:
abstract class Incomplete implements Callback {
int a, b;
void show() {
System.out.println(a + " " + b);
}
// ...
}
Partial Implementations
• Here, the class Incomplete does not
implement callback( ) and must be declared as
abstract.
• Any class that inherits Incomplete must
implement callback( ) or be declared abstract
itself.
Interfaces Can Be Extended-Cont…
• Although the examples we’ve included in this
book do not make frequent use of packages or
interfaces, both of these tools are an
important part of the Java programming
environment.
• Virtually all real programs that you write in
Java will be contained within packages.
End of session

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Differences between classes and

• When no access specifier is included, then

• In this case, the interface must be the only

• They end with a semicolon after the

• Variables can be declared inside of interface

• Here is an example of an interface definition.

• Notice that callback( ) is declared using the

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