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Interface Segregation

Interface Segregation

There are multiple ways of solving the same problem.

Interface segregation means to keep the interface as small as possible.

  • e.g. same function signature for location elsewhere (common interface).

Different versions of solution to the same problem should still have a common interface.

We do this so swapping out service or component becomes easy.

  • Consistent interface guarantees swappability and small interface makes that easier.
public interface ParkingLot {
  void parkCar();    // Decrease empty spot count by 1
  void unparkCar(); // Increase empty spots by 1
  void getCapacity();    // Returns car capacity
  double calculateFee(Car car); // Returns the price based on number of hours
  void doPayment(Car car);
}

class Car {

}

When we want to implement a free parkinglot:

public class FreeParking implements ParkingLot {
  @Override
  public void parkCar() {

  }

  @Override
  public void unparkCar() {

  }

  @Override
  public void getCapacity() {

  }

  @Override
  public double calculateFee(Car car) {
      return 0;
  }

  @Override
  public void doPayment(Car car) {
      throw new Exception("Parking lot is free");
  }
}

In above example, ParkingLot interface is trying to do too much.

  • ParkingLot implemented both parking and payment related logic.

We can improve this by separating the logic to following:

ParkingLot < PaidParkingLot < HourlyFeeParkingLot 
                            < ConstantFeeParkingLot
           < FreeParkingLot

Now the model is more flexible, extendable, and the clients do not need to implement any irrelevant logic because we provide only parking-related functionality in the parking lot interface.

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