Download the JDK
Search the Tutorials
Hide the TOC
Trail: Learning the Java Language
Lesson: Interfaces and Inheritance
Section: Interfaces
Interfaces and Inheritance
Interfaces
Defining an Interface
Implementing an Interface
Using an Interface as a Type
Rewriting Interfaces
Summary of Interfaces
Questions and Exercises
Inheritance
Overriding and Hiding Methods
Hiding Fields
Using the Keyword super
Object as a Superclass
Writing Final Classes and Methods
Abstract Methods and Classes
Summary of Inheritance
Questions and Exercises
Home Page > Learning the Java Language > Interfaces and Inheritance
« Previous • Trail • Next »
Using an Interface as a Type

> When you define a new interface, you are defining a new reference data type. You can use interface names anywhere you can use any other data type name. If you define a reference variable whose type is an interface, any object you assign to it must be an instance of a class that implements the interface.

> As an example, here is a method for finding the largest object in a pair of objects, for any objects that are instantiated from a class that implements `Relatable`:

> >     public Object findLargest(Object object1, Object object2) {
> >        Relatable obj1 = (Relatable)object1;
> >        Relatable obj2 = (Relatable)object2;
> >        if ( (obj1).isLargerThan(obj2) > 0)
> >           return object1;
> >        else
> >           return object2;
> >     }

> By casting `object1` to a `Relatable` type, it can invoke the `isLargerThan` method.

> If you make a point of implementing `Relatable` in a wide variety of classes, the objects instantiated from any of those classes can be compared with the `findLargest()` method—provided that both objects are of the same class. Similarly, they can all be compared with the following methods:

> >     public Object findSmallest(Object object1, Object object2) {
> >        Relatable obj1 = (Relatable)object1;
> >        Relatable obj2 = (Relatable)object2;
> >        if ( (obj1).isLargerThan(obj2) < 0)
> >           return object1;
> >        else
> >           return object2;
> >     }

> >     public boolean isEqual(Object object1, Object object2) {
> >        Relatable obj1 = (Relatable)object1;
> >        Relatable obj2 = (Relatable)object2;
> >        if ( (obj1).isLargerThan(obj2) == 0)
> >           return true;
> >        else
> >           return false;
> >     }

> These methods work for any "relatable" objects, no matter what their class inheritance is. When they implement `Relatable`, they can be of both their own class (or superclass) type and a `Relatable` type. This gives them some of the advantages of multiple inheritance, where they can have behavior from both a superclass and an interface.

« Previous • Trail • Next »
Previous page: Implementing an Interface
Next page: Rewriting Interfaces