Interfaces and abstract class inheritance, implementation in extended classes

user_409279 0
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In every example I've seen, extended classes implement the interfaces of their parents. For reference, the following example:

interface MyInterface{
    public function foo();
    public function bar();
}

abstract class MyAbstract implements MyInterface{
    public function foo(){ /* stuff */ }
    public function bar(){ /* stuff */ }
}

// what i usually see
class MyClass extends MyAbstract implements MyInterface{}

// what i'm curious about
class MyOtherClass extends MyAbstract{}

Is failure to implement an interface in a child, which is implemented by a parent, considered bad practice or something? Are there any technical drawbacks to omitting the implementation in the child?

abstract-class interface inheritance php
5 Answers

Maybe a little late to the table but I see the above comments do not clarify the main misunderstanding underlying the OP's question.

So the underlying questions are:

  • Why we use both an Abstract class and an Interface on the same line?
  • Should both an Abstract method and an Interface declare the same methods at all?

But before some clarifications why to use either of the two above:

  • Either of them are used by one programmer to define the contract (requirements, obligations, limitations) the other programmers have to obey when they create the concrete classes (and eventually entire software application) based on Abstract classes / Interfaces developed by that programmer.

  • An Abstract class, in turn, is used to provide the later created concrete class with methods & data structures blueprint via:

    1. data structures declarations (optional),
    2. base implementation of methods (and their signatures, optional)
    3. just methods declarations (similar to an Interface usage, optional).

  • An Interface is used to provide a concrete class with a methods blueprint via

    1. just methods (and their signatures, optional) declarations.

Here is an example for an Abstract and concrete classes.

abstract class MyAbstractClass {

    public function foo() {
        // Base implementation of the method here.
    }

    public function bar() {
        // Base implementation of the method here.
    }

    // Effectively similar to baz() declaration within some interface:
    public abstract function baz($value);

}

class MyConcreteClass extends MyAbstractClass {

    // foo() and bar() are inherited here from MyAbstractClass.

    // baz() must be implemented or declared abstract again.
    public function baz($value) {
        // implementation.
    }

}

Then the questions come:

  1. Why we need an Interface here?
  2. Do we need an Interface to duplicate same method declarations?

The answers:

  1. Due to the fact that PHP allows only single inheritance for each subclass (you cannot write class MyConcreteClass extends MyAbstractClass, MyAnotherClass {}), when we need to expand the concrete class functionality beyond the already used Abstract class we have to declare this additional functionality via one or more Interfaces.

    Like this:

    class MyConcreteClass 
    extends MyAbstractClass 
    implements MyInterface, MyAnotherInterface {
    // Methods and data implementations go here.
}

  2. As the result from the answer 1, an Interface better not to duplicate an Abstract class methods' declarations (this is basically useless). An Interface(s) should decalre the methods that may help to enhance the concrete (or another Abstract class, why not) functionality to provide the programmer that will use these with the firm contract for each object built on top of these classes and interfaces.

Finally, answer to the the OP question whether to use an Interface for an Abstract class or for the concrete class is:

  • use for either or both (or as needed) as long as an Interface enhances a class contract with new methods' declarations.
user_65972650

Well, I was confused too, but I think you should use the latter one, You are right, If you implement the interface in the abstract class, then there is no need to write the interface, you can write the method in interface all into abstract as abstract methods, because you will extend the abstract class whatever, and you will have to use the abstract class as a param type when you use the class in other place, that's not a good thing, I think an abstract class should't be used as a param type, while an interface should be.

user_80128910
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