Differencebetween an Interface and a Class, and Why I Should Use an Interface When I Can Implement the Methods Directly in the Class

What is the difference between an interface and a class, and why I should use an interface when I can implement the methods directly in the class?

Interfaces are excellent when you want to create something like it:

using System;

namespace MyInterfaceExample
{
    public interface IMyLogInterface
    {
        //I want to have a specific method that I'll use in MyLogClass
        void WriteLog();       
    }

    public class MyClass : IMyLogInterface
    {

        public void WriteLog()
        {
            Console.Write("MyClass was Logged");
        }
    }

    public class MyOtherClass : IMyLogInterface
    {

        public void WriteLog()
        {
            Console.Write("MyOtherClass was Logged");
            Console.Write("And I Logged it different, than MyClass");
        }
    }

    public class MyLogClass
    {
        //I created a WriteLog method where I can pass as a parameter any object that implements IMyLogInterface.
        public static void WriteLog(IMyLogInterface myLogObject)
        {
            myLogObject.WriteLog(); //So I can use WriteLog here.
        }
    }

    public class MyMainClass
    {
        public void DoSomething()
        {
            MyClass aClass = new MyClass();
            MyOtherClass otherClass = new MyOtherClass();

            MyLogClass.WriteLog(aClass);//MyClass can log, and have his own implementation
            MyLogClass.WriteLog(otherClass); //As MyOtherClass also have his own implementation on how to log.
        }
    }
}

In my example, I could be a developer who writes MyLogClass, and the other developers, could create their classes, and when they wanted to log, they implement the interface IMyLogInterface. It is as they were asking me what they need to implement to use WriteLog() method in MyLogClass. The answer they will find in the interface.

What is the difference between an interface and abstract class?

Interfaces

An interface is a contract: The person writing the interface says, "hey, I accept things looking that way", and the person using the interface says "OK, the class I write looks that way".

An interface is an empty shell. There are only the signatures of the methods, which implies that the methods do not have a body. The interface can't do anything. It's just a pattern.

For example (pseudo code):

// I say all motor vehicles should look like this:
interface MotorVehicle
{
    void run();

    int getFuel();
}

// My team mate complies and writes vehicle looking that way
class Car implements MotorVehicle
{

    int fuel;

    void run()
    {
        print("Wrroooooooom");
    }


    int getFuel()
    {
        return this.fuel;
    }
}

Implementing an interface consumes very little CPU, because it's not a class, just a bunch of names, and therefore there isn't any expensive look-up to do. It's great when it matters, such as in embedded devices.

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Abstract classes

Abstract classes, unlike interfaces, are classes. They are more expensive to use, because there is a look-up to do when you inherit from them.

Abstract classes look a lot like interfaces, but they have something more: You can define a behavior for them. It's more about a person saying, "these classes should look like that, and they have that in common, so fill in the blanks!".

For example:

// I say all motor vehicles should look like this:
abstract class MotorVehicle
{

    int fuel;

    // They ALL have fuel, so lets implement this for everybody.
    int getFuel()
    {
         return this.fuel;
    }

    // That can be very different, force them to provide their
    // own implementation.
    abstract void run();
}

// My teammate complies and writes vehicle looking that way
class Car extends MotorVehicle
{
    void run()
    {
        print("Wrroooooooom");
    }
}

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Implementation

While abstract classes and interfaces are supposed to be different concepts, the implementations make that statement sometimes untrue. Sometimes, they are not even what you think they are.

In Java, this rule is strongly enforced, while in PHP, interfaces are abstract classes with no method declared.

In Python, abstract classes are more a programming trick you can get from the ABC module and is actually using metaclasses, and therefore classes. And interfaces are more related to duck typing in this language and it's a mix between conventions and special methods that call descriptors (the __method__ methods).

As usual with programming, there is theory, practice, and practice in another language :-)

When to use an interface instead of an abstract class and vice versa?

I wrote an article about that:

Abstract classes and interfaces

Summarizing:

When we talk about abstract classes we are defining characteristics of an object type; specifying what an object is.

When we talk about an interface and define capabilities that we promise to provide, we are talking about establishing a contract about what the object can do.

Interface vs Base class

Let's take your example of a Dog and a Cat class, and let's illustrate using C#:

Both a dog and a cat are animals, specifically, quadruped mammals (animals are waaay too general). Let us assume that you have an abstract class Mammal, for both of them:

public abstract class Mammal

This base class will probably have default methods such as:

• Feed
• Mate

All of which are behavior that have more or less the same implementation between either species. To define this you will have:

public class Dog : Mammal
public class Cat : Mammal

Now let's suppose there are other mammals, which we will usually see in a zoo:

public class Giraffe : Mammal
public class Rhinoceros : Mammal
public class Hippopotamus : Mammal

This will still be valid because at the core of the functionality Feed() and Mate() will still be the same.

However, giraffes, rhinoceros, and hippos are not exactly animals that you can make pets out of. That's where an interface will be useful:

public interface IPettable
{
    IList<Trick> Tricks{get; set;}
    void Bathe();
    void Train(Trick t);
}

The implementation for the above contract will not be the same between a cat and dog; putting their implementations in an abstract class to inherit will be a bad idea.

Your Dog and Cat definitions should now look like:

public class Dog : Mammal, IPettable
public class Cat : Mammal, IPettable

Theoretically you can override them from a higher base class, but essentially an interface allows you to add on only the things you need into a class without the need for inheritance.

Consequently, because you can usually only inherit from one abstract class (in most statically typed OO languages that is... exceptions include C++) but be able to implement multiple interfaces, it allows you to construct objects in a strictly as required basis.

Implements vs extends: When to use? What's the difference?

extends is for extending a class.

implements is for implementing an interface

The difference between an interface and a regular class is that in an interface you can not implement any of the declared methods. Only the class that "implements" the interface can implement the methods. The C++ equivalent of an interface would be an abstract class (not EXACTLY the same but pretty much).

Also java doesn't support multiple inheritance for classes. This is solved by using multiple interfaces.

 public interface ExampleInterface {
    public void doAction();
    public String doThis(int number);
 }

 public class sub implements ExampleInterface {
     public void doAction() {
       //specify what must happen
     }

     public String doThis(int number) {
       //specfiy what must happen
     }
 }

now extending a class

 public class SuperClass {
    public int getNb() {
         //specify what must happen
        return 1;
     }

     public int getNb2() {
         //specify what must happen
        return 2;
     }
 }

 public class SubClass extends SuperClass {
      //you can override the implementation
      @Override
      public int getNb2() {
        return 3;
     }
 }

in this case

  Subclass s = new SubClass();
  s.getNb(); //returns 1
  s.getNb2(); //returns 3

  SuperClass sup = new SuperClass();
  sup.getNb(); //returns 1
  sup.getNb2(); //returns 2

Also, note that an @Override tag is not required for implementing an interface, as there is nothing in the original interface methods to be overridden

I suggest you do some more research on dynamic binding, polymorphism and in general inheritance in Object-oriented programming

When should I use an interface in java?

Use interfaces to define an application programming contract (blueprint, interface) which "3rd-party" vendors have to fully adhere and implement. This way the endusers can just code against the API contract and easily switch of the concrete implementation "under the hoods" without changing the code.

The JDBC API is an excellent example. It exist of almost only interfaces. The concrete implementations are provided as "JDBC drivers". This enables you to write all the JDBC code independent of the database (DB) vendor. You can just change the JDBC driver without changing any line of Java code (except of any hardcoded DB-specific SQL code) whenever you'd like to switch of DB vendor.

Another example is the Java EE API, it also contains pretty much interfaces and abstract classes. The concrete implementations are provided as "Java EE application servers", "Servletcontainers", etc, such as Sun Glassfish, Apache Tomcat, etc. This enables you to deploy the webapplication (WAR) to whatever Java web server you like.

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