Interfaces and Nested

Classes
September 19, 2014
Interfaces

CMSC 22
Interfaces

An interface consists of a set of instance

method interfaces, without any
associated implementations

A class can implement an interface by

providing an implementation for each of
the methods specified by the interface

CMSC 22
Interfaces

public interface Drawable {

public void draw(Graphics g);
}

CMSC 22
Interfaces

public class Line implements Drawable {

public void draw(Graphics g) {
. . . / / do something −− presumably ,
draw a l i n e
} . . . / / other methods and v a r i a b l e s
}
CMSC 22
Interfaces

To implement an interface, a class must

do more than simply provide an
implementation for each method in the
interface

CMSC 22
Interfaces

It must also state that it implements the

interface, using the reserved word
implements

CMSC 22
Interfaces

Any class that implements the Drawable

interface defines a draw() instance
method

Any object created from such a class

includes a draw() method

CMSC 22
Interfaces

While a class can extend only one other

class, it can implement any number of
interfaces

class FilledCircle extends Circle

implements Drawable, Fillable { . .
}
CMSC 22
Interfaces

The point of all this is that, although

interfaces are not classes, they are
something very similar

Though you can’t construct an object

from an interface, you can declare a
variable whose type is given by the
interface
CMSC 22
Nested Classes

A nested class is any class whose

definition is inside the definition of another
class

Nested classes can be either named or

anonymous

CMSC 22
Nested Classes

A named nested class, like most other

things that occur in classes, can be either
static or non-static

CMSC 22
Nested Classes

CMSC 22
Nested Classes

A static nested class has full access to the

static members of the containing class,
even to the private members

Similarly, the containing class has full

access to the members of the nested
class
CMSC 22
Nested Classes

Non-static nested classes are referred to

as inner classes

A non-static nested class is actually

associated with an object rather than to
the class in which it is nested

CMSC 22
Nested Classes

CMSC 22
Nested Classes

Each object that belongs to the

containing class has its own copy of the
nested class

CMSC 22
Nested Classes

This copy has access to all the instance

methods and instance variables of the
object, even to those that are declared
private

CMSC 22
Nested Classes

If the nested class needs to use any

instance variable or instance method,
make it non-static

Otherwise, it might as well be static

CMSC 22