Overcoming Name Clashes in Multiple C++ Interfaces
December 23rd, 2011Interfaces
One of our key design goals is to reduce coupling between objects and classes. By keeping coupling to a minimum a design is more resilient to change imposed by new feature requests or missing requirements[1].
An Interface represents an abstract service. That is, it is the specification of a set of behaviours (operations) that represent a problem that needs to be solved.
An Interface is more than a set of cohesive operations. The Interface can be thought of as a contract between two objects – the client of the interface and the provider of the interface implementation.
The implementer of the Interface guarantees to fulfil the specifications of the Interface. That is, given that operation pre-conditions are met the implementer will fulfil any behavioural requirements, post-conditions, invariants and quality-of-services requirements.
From the client’s perspective it must conform to the operation specifications and fulfil any pre-conditions required by the Interface. Failure to comply on either side may cause a failure of the software.