Interfaces

• In object-oriented programming, it is useful to define what a class should do, but not how.

• An abstract method defines the signature of a method without providing implementation, and the subclass must implement that method.

• A Java interface allows you to completely separate the definition of what should be done from the implementation of how to do it.

• An interface can specify methods without a body, which must be implemented by classes.

• There is no limit to the number of classes that can implement an interface, and a class can implement multiple interfaces.

• To implement an interface, the class must provide the implementation of the described methods.

• Different classes can implement the same interface in different ways, but share the same set of methods.

• The use of interfaces allows polymorphism, as objects from different classes can be treated interchangeably.

• JDK 8 introduced the ability for interfaces to define default implementations for methods, allowing an interface to specify behavior.

• Despite standard implementations, the original intent of interfaces to define only what remains largely unchanged.

• The initial focus will be on traditional interfaces, with discussion of standard methods at the end of the chapter.

access interface name {
ret-type method-name1(param-list);
ret-type method-name2(param-list);
type var1 = value;
type var2 = value;
// ...
ret-type method-nameN(param-list);
type varN = value;
}

• Access to an interface can be public or standard access (package-private).

• If no access modifiers are included, the interface is only accessible to members of your package.

• When declared as public, the interface can be used by any code, and must be in a file with the same name.

• The interface name can be any valid identifier.

• In the traditional form of an interface, methods are declared only with their return type and signature, essentially being abstract methods.

• Classes that implement this interface must provide implementations for all their methods, which are implicitly public.

• Variables in an interface are not instance variables; they are implicitly public, final and static, and must be initialized (they are constants).

• Example of an interface definition:

public interface Series {
int getNext(); // returns the next number in the series
void reset(); // restart
void setStart(int x); // defines the initial value
}

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