Note: information on this page refers to Ceylon 1.0, not to the current release.

Interfaces

An interface is a stateless type that, unlike a class:

  • may not hold references to other objects,
  • does not define initialization logic, and
  • cannot be directly instantiated.

Interfaces support a more flexible inheritance model: multiple inheritance. "Diamond" inheritance is not a problem for interfaces, because interfaces don't have state or logic to initialize that state.

Usage

A trivial interface declaration looks like this:

interface I {
    /* declarations of interface members */
}

Since interfaces don't contain initialization logic, there's no parameter list after the interface name as there would be in a class declaration.

Description

Satisfying interfaces

The satisfies keyword specifies the interfaces inherited by an interface:

interface I satisfies I1 & I2 {
    /* declarations of interface members */
}

If an interface is declared without using the satisfies keyword, it does not directly inherit any interfaces. However, all interfaces are considered to inherit the class Object.

& is used as the separator between satisfied interfaces because I is being defined as a subtype of the intersection type I1&I2.

Enumerated interfaces

The subclasses of an enumerated interface can be constrained to a list of named interfaces, classes, or toplevel anonymous classes using the of clause. If the interface I is permitted only two direct subtypes, the interface I1, and the class C1, its declaration would look like this:

interface I of I1 | C1 {
    /* declarations of interface members */
}

Generic interfaces

An generic interface declaration lists type parameters in angle brackets (< and >) after the interface name.

interface I<Z> {
    /* declarations of interface members 
       type parameter Z treated as a type */
}

An interface declaration with type parameters may have a given clause for each declared type parameter to constrain the argument types.

shared interfaces

A toplevel interface declaration, or an interface declaration nested inside the body of a containing class or interface, may be annotated shared:

shared class C() {
    /* declarations of class members */
}
  • A toplevel shared interface is visible wherever the package that contains it is visible.
  • A shared interface nested inside a class or interface is visible wherever the containing class or interface is visible.

Members

The permitted members of interfaces are classes, interfaces, methods, and attributes.

Note that an interface cannot have an object member.

Aliases

An interface alias is a kind of alias.

Metamodel

Interface declarations can be manipulated at runtime via their representation as InterfaceDeclaration instances. An applied interface (i.e. with all type parameters specified) corresponds to either an Interface or MemberInterface model instance.

See also