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Message:

Instantiating interfaces

Posted by Jim Nichols on September 18, 2000 at 4:28 PM

This question interests me, too. I don't contest the current replies, but one reason I've had some trouble internalizing the use of anonymous inner classes is because you *appear* to instantiate an interface in certain cases. I refer to the following type of code:

ActionListener al = new ActionListener() {
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {

}
};

No mention is ever made of implementing the ActionListener interface. This kind of shorthand can be counterproductive for someone trying to understand the code.