interface

Plural: interfaces

Noun

• (chemistry) a surface forming a common boundary between two things (two objects or liquids or chemical phases)
• (computer science) a program that controls a display for the user (usually on a computer monitor) and that allows the user to interact with the system
• the overlap where two theories or phenomena affect each other or have links with each other
  • "the interface between chemistry and biology"
• (computer science) computer circuit consisting of the hardware and associated circuitry that links one device with another (especially a computer and a hard disk drive or other peripherals)
• The point of interconnection or contact between entities.
• A thin layer or boundary between different substances or two phases of a single substance.
• The point of interconnection between systems or subsystems.
• The connection between a user and a machine.
• The connection between parts of software; also the public or published sections of an object or module.
• In object-oriented programming, a piece of code defining a set of operations that other code must implement.
• In some languages, a block of code declaring the interface (point of interconnection) between a class and code that interacts with it.
• The internal surface of a coiled protein (compare exoface).

Verb

• To construct an interface for.
• To connect through an interface.
• To serve as an interface.
• To meet for discussion.

Examples

• If water and oil are mixed together, they tend to separate, and at equilibrium they are in different strata with an oil-water interface in between.
• Let's interface on Wednesday.
• Public relations firms often serve as the interface between a company and the press.
• The Audio and Video classes both implement the IPlayable interface.
• The data is sent over the air interface to the remote system.
• The options are selected via the user interface.
• The surface of a lake is a water-air interface.
• This interface is implemented by several Java classes.
• Traits are somewhat between an interface and a mixin, as an interface contains only method signatures, while a trait includes also the full method definitions; on the other side mixins include method definitions, but they can also carry state through attributes, while traits usually don't.

Synonyms

port, user interface

Related Words

mixin, trait