interface

noun

1. 1

   The point of interconnection or contact between entities.

   Public relations firms often serve as the interface between a company and the press.

2. 2

   A thin layer or boundary between different substances or two phases of a single substance.

   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.

   The surface of a lake is a water-air interface.

3. 3

   The point of interconnection between systems or subsystems.

   The data is sent over the air interface to the remote system.

4. 4

   The connection between a user and a machine.

   The options are selected via the user interface.

5. 5

   The connection between parts of software; also the public or published sections of an object or module.

   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.

6. 6

   In object-oriented programming, a piece of code defining a set of operations that other code must implement.

   The Audio and Video classes both implement the IPlayable interface.

7. 7

   In some languages, a block of code declaring the interface (point of interconnection) between a class and code that interacts with it.

8. 8

   The internal surface of a coiled protein (compare exoface).

verb

1. 1

   To construct an interface for.

2. 2

   To connect through an interface.

3. 3

   To serve as an interface.

4. 4

   To meet for discussion.

   Let's interface on Wednesday.

Forms

plural

interfaces

past tense

interfaced

past participle

interfaced

present participle

interfacing

third person singular

interfaces