• File Interfaces:
  • Java supports the use of Interfaces.
    • An interface is a definition of the methods that will be present in any implementing class.
    • A class can implement more than one interface if it so chooses, it just needs to provide all of the methods required by all of the implemented interfaces.
    • An interface can be thought of as a guaranteed contract stating that "by implementing this interface I guarantee this class will implement these methods specified by the interface."
    • This allows the interface to be used as a reference type that allows any class implementing the interface to be used without altering the code.
  • NeXtMidas makes use of interfaces for plotting and listing files.
    • Any file whose handler implements PlotFile can be plotted by PLOT.
    • Any file whose handler implements ListFile can be listed by LIST2.

X-Midas Users Take Note:
File support for X-Midas is part of the system libraries and can not be modified without altering the X-Midas baseline. In NeXtMidas option trees can add their own file handlers, at run-time, without altering the NeXtMidas baseline.