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An interface in the Java programming language is an abstract type that is used to declare a behavior that classes must implement. They are similar to protocols.Interfaces are declared using the interface keyword, and may only contain method signature and constant declarations (variable declarations that are declared to be both static and final).
Java has a set of predefined annotation types, but it is allowed to define new ones. An annotation type declaration is a special type of an interface declaration. They are declared in the same way as the interfaces, except the interface keyword is preceded by the @ sign.
static is a reserved word in many programming languages to modify a declaration. The effect of the keyword varies depending on the details of the specific programming language, most commonly used to modify the lifetime (as a static variable) and visibility (depending on linkage), or to specify a class member instead of an instance member in classes.
An interface places no requirements for clients to invoke the operations of one interface in any particular order. This approach has the benefit that client code can assume that the operations of an interface are available for use whenever the client has access to the object. [9] [citation needed] Class interface example
An interface is generic if it declares one or more type variables. [7] It defines one or more type variables that act as parameters. [7] A generic interface declaration defines a set of types, one for each possible invocation of the type parameter section. All parameterized types share the same interface at runtime.
In computer programming, a declaration is a language construct specifying identifier properties: it declares a word's (identifier's) meaning. [1] Declarations are most commonly used for functions, variables, constants, and classes, but can also be used for other entities such as enumerations and type definitions. [1]
Static binding (or early binding) is name binding performed before the program is run. [2] Dynamic binding (or late binding or virtual binding) is name binding performed as the program is running. [2] An example of a static binding is a direct C function call: the function referenced by the identifier cannot change at runtime.
An instance of the interface is syntactically no more useful than the interface name itself (since it has no methods). Unless a developer checks any implemented interfaces when adding a constant to a class, or does so but makes a typo in the name of the added constant, the value of a constant can be silently changed. Consider Example 2 below.