Interface of a Class

Interfaces define and standardize the ways in which things such as people and systems interact with one another. For example, a radio’s controls serve as an interface between the radio’s users and its internal components. The controls allow users to perform a limited set of operations (such as changing the station, adjusting the volume, and choosing between AM and FM stations). Various radios may implement these operations differently—some provide push buttons, some provide dials and some support voice commands. The interface specifies what operations a radio permits users to perform but does not specify how the operations are implemented inside the radio.

Similarly, the interface of a class describes what services a class’s clients can use and how to request those services, but not how the class carries out the services. A class’s public interface consists of the class’s public member functions (also known as the class’s public services). For example, class GradeBook’s interface (Fig. 3.9) contains a constructor and member functions setCourseName, getCourseName and displayMessage. GradeBook’s clients (e.g., main in Fig. 3.10) use these functions to request the class’s services. As you’ll soon see, you can specify a class’s interface by writing a class definition that lists only the member-function names, return types and parameter types.