Interface (computing): Difference between revisions

Revision as of 09:42, 7 June 2024

Revision as of 09:46, 29 July 2025

(18 intermediate revisions by 13 users not shown)

Line 1:

{{Short description|Shared boundary between elements of a computing system}}

{{Refimprove|date=May 2010}}

In computing, an '''interface''' is a shared boundary across which ''' two or more separate components of a [[computer system]] exchange information. The exchange can be between [[software]], [[computer hardware]], [[peripheral|peripheral devices]], [[User interface|humans]], and combinations of these.<ref name="HookwayInterface14">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BQM_AwAAQBAJ |chapter=Chapter 1: The Subject of the Interface |title=Interface |author=Hookway, B. |publisher=MIT Press |pages=1–58 |year=2014 |isbn=9780262525503}}</ref> Some computer hardware devices, such as a [[touchscreen]], can both send and receive data through the interface, while others such as a mouse or microphone may only provide an interface to send data to a given system.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia

| year = 2000

| title = IEEE 100 - The Authoritative Dictionary Of IEEE Standards Terms

Line 10 ⟶ 9:

| pages = 574–575}}</ref>

== ElectricHardware Vehicles Gamepassinterfaces ==

[[File:RJ-45 Ethernet socket on Lenovo T410 Laptop.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|Hardware interfaces of a [[laptop]] computer: [[Ethernet]] network socket (center), to the left a part of the [[Video Graphics Array|VGA]] port, to the right (upper) a [[display port]] socket, to the right (lower) a [[Universal Serial Bus|USB]]-A socket.]]

{{Main article|Hardware interface}}

Line 69 ⟶ 68:

=== In object-oriented languages ===

{{Main article|Interface (object-oriented programming)|Concept (generic programming)}}

In some [[Object-oriented programming|object-oriented]] languages, especially those without full [[multiple inheritance]], the term ''interface'' is used to define an [[Abstract data type|abstract type]] that acts as an [[abstraction]] of a [[Class (computer science)|class]]. It contains no data, but defines behaviours as [[Method (computer science)|method]] signatures. A [[class (computer science)|class]] having code and data for all the methods corresponding to that interface and declaring so is said to ''implement'' that interface.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/java/concepts/interface.html|title=What Is an Interface|work=The Java Tutorials|publisher=Oracle|access-date=2012-05-01|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120412093619/http://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/java/concepts/interface.html|archive-date=2012-04-12}}</ref> Furthermore, even in single-inheritance-languages, one can implement multiple interfaces, and hence can ''be'' of different types at the same time.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/java/IandI/createinterface.html|title=Interfaces|work=The Java Tutorials|publisher=Oracle|access-date=2012-05-01|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120526080117/http://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/java/IandI/createinterface.html|archive-date=2012-05-26}}</ref>

An interface is thus a [[data type|type]] definition; anywhere an object can be exchanged (for example, in a [[function (computer science)|function]] or [[method (computer science)|method]] call) the ''type'' of the object to be exchanged can be defined in terms of one of its implemented ''interface''s or base-classes rather than specifying the specific [[Class (computer science)|class]]. This approach means that any class that implements that interface can be used.{{citation needed|date=June 2018}} For example, a [[Skeleton (computer programming)|dummy implementation]] may be used to allow ''' development to progress before the final implementation is available. In another case, a [[Test-driven development#Fakes, mocks and integration tests|fake or mock]] implementation may be substituted during testing. Such [[Method stub|stub]] implementations are replaced by real code later in the development process.

Usually, a method defined in an interface contains no code and thus cannot itself be called; it must be implemented by non-abstract code to be run when it is invoked.{{citation needed|date=June 2018}} An interface called "<code>[[Stack (data structure)|Stack]]</code>" might define two methods: <code>push()</code> and <code>pop()</code>. It can be implemented in different ways, for example, <code>FastStack</code> and <code>GenericStack</code>—the first being fast, working with a data structure of fixed size, and the second using a data structure that can be resized, but at the cost of somewhat lower speed.

Line 113 ⟶ 112:

* [[Business Interoperability Interface]]

* [[Computer bus]]

* [[Coupling (computer programming)]]

* [[Hard disk drive interface]]

* [[Implementation (computer science)]]