The connection and interaction between hardware, software and the user. Users "talk to" the software. The software "talks to" the hardware and other software. Hardware "talks to" other hardware. All this is interfacing. It has to be designed, developed, tested and redesigned; and with each incarnation, a new specification is born that may become yet one more de facto or regulated standard.
Hardware Interfaces
Hardware interfaces are the plugs, sockets, cables and electrical signals traveling through them. Examples are USB, FireWire, Ethernet, ATA/IDE, SCSI and PCI.
Software/Programming Interfaces
Software interfaces (programming interfaces) are the languages, codes and messages that programs use to communicate with each other and to the hardware. Examples are the Windows, Mac and Linux operating systems, SMTP e-mail, IP network protocols and the software drivers that activate the peripheral devices.
User Interfaces
User interfaces are the keyboards, mice, commands and menus used for communication between you and the computer. Examples are the command lines in DOS and Unix, and the graphical interfaces in Windows, Mac and Linux.
Format & Function
Every interface implies a structure. Electrical signals are made up of voltage levels, frequencies and duration. The data passed from one device or program to another has a precise format (header, body, trailer, etc.).
Every interface implies a function. At the hardware level, electronic signals activate functions; data are read, written, transmitted, received, checked for error, etc. At the software level, instructions activate the hardware (access methods, data link protocols, etc.). At higher levels, the data transferred or transmitted may itself request functions to be performed (client/server, program to program, etc.).
Language & Programming
An interface is activated by programming language commands. The complexity of the functions and the design of the language determine how difficult it is to program.
User Interface, Protocol, API and ABI
The design of the interaction between the user and the computer is called a "user interface." The rules, formats and functions between components in a communications system or network are called "protocols." The language and message formats between routines within a program or between software components is called an "application programming interface" (API). The specification for an operating system working in a specific machine environment has been known as an "application binary interface" (ABI), but this term is not widely used.
All the above interactions are interfaces. Regardless of what they are called, they all create rules that must be precisely followed in a digital world.
A Whole Lot of Talking To
No matter what they're called, interfaces boil down to a format and language that defines the services one system is capable of delivering to another.
Hardware Interfaces
Hardware interfaces are the plugs, sockets, cables and electrical signals traveling through them. Examples are USB, FireWire, Ethernet, ATA/IDE, SCSI and PCI.
Software/Programming Interfaces
Software interfaces (programming interfaces) are the languages, codes and messages that programs use to communicate with each other and to the hardware. Examples are the Windows, Mac and Linux operating systems, SMTP e-mail, IP network protocols and the software drivers that activate the peripheral devices.
User Interfaces
User interfaces are the keyboards, mice, commands and menus used for communication between you and the computer. Examples are the command lines in DOS and Unix, and the graphical interfaces in Windows, Mac and Linux.
Format & Function
Every interface implies a structure. Electrical signals are made up of voltage levels, frequencies and duration. The data passed from one device or program to another has a precise format (header, body, trailer, etc.).
Every interface implies a function. At the hardware level, electronic signals activate functions; data are read, written, transmitted, received, checked for error, etc. At the software level, instructions activate the hardware (access methods, data link protocols, etc.). At higher levels, the data transferred or transmitted may itself request functions to be performed (client/server, program to program, etc.).
Language & Programming
An interface is activated by programming language commands. The complexity of the functions and the design of the language determine how difficult it is to program.
User Interface, Protocol, API and ABI
The design of the interaction between the user and the computer is called a "user interface." The rules, formats and functions between components in a communications system or network are called "protocols." The language and message formats between routines within a program or between software components is called an "application programming interface" (API). The specification for an operating system working in a specific machine environment has been known as an "application binary interface" (ABI), but this term is not widely used.
All the above interactions are interfaces. Regardless of what they are called, they all create rules that must be precisely followed in a digital world.
A Whole Lot of Talking To
No matter what they're called, interfaces boil down to a format and language that defines the services one system is capable of delivering to another.
 | Reproduced with permission from Computer Desktop Encyclopedia. Copyright (c) 1981-2009 The Computer Language Company Inc. All rights reserved. |
Additional Resources
- MimMac 1.10 (Mac)
- Clones, backups, and data synchronization made easy. MimMac is a fast, easy-to-use, and comprehensive backup and cloning utility, designed to make backing up, synchronizing, merging, and cloning your data as painless as possible. With MimMac, there's no need to set up complex scripts, or navigate a bloated interface just to...
- Software downloads 2009-11-20
- iNMR 3.3.7 (Mac)
- Today you can find many alternative NMR applications that run on Mac OS X, and all of them have been ported from some other operative system. Under a minimal cosmetic retouch, they still sport the original interface, be it X11, Windows95 or Windows XP. Some alternatives are written in Java,...
- Software downloads 2009-11-20
- Halftone Search for Google Desktop 1.5.1 (Windows)
- This program extends the Google Desktop GD functionality by providing a native Windows interface and allowing GD to access more file formats. The interface enhancements include search terms highlighting, thumbnails view, on-the-fly compressed files extraction and several ways to make searches including a Windows tray pop-up menu. Additionally, the program...
- Software downloads 2009-11-20
- Google makes Chrome OS open source today
- Contrary to rumors, Google did not release a beta version of its much anticipated Chrome operating system today. And nothing is coming anytime soon: the final version is at least a year away, the mega giant web company said. But there was some significant news for the...
- Blog posts 2009-11-19
- Hands-on with the HTC HD2, most impressive Windows Mobile device to date
- I like what HTC is doingYou've got the Hero and the HD2. I'd like to see what the difference is in performance between the two, but the Hero has a slower processor. Personally, I like the Windows Mobile platform, and it is the best option for Windows-based IT...
- Discussion threads 2009-11-19
- iBattery Meter for iPhone 1.4 (Mobile)
- iBattery Meter for iPhone allows the user to know how much battery life they have left on an application by application basis, thus providing the essential information for battery life management. iBattery Meter for iPhone provides more battery life information than the competition in an easy to use interface. iBattery...
- Software downloads 2009-11-19
- Deductions 1.1.2 (Mac)
- Deductions is educational software designed to help students learn proofs in formal logic. It is intended to be used by instructors and students of college-level logic courses in philosophy, mathematics and computer science. It gives immediate feedback at each stage of a proof, provides hints about how to complete proofs,...
- Software downloads 2009-11-19
- Path Finder 5.5.6 (Mac)
- Path Finder is an award-winning file browser and management application for Mac OS X. If you've ever wished Apple's Finder just did feature X or feature Y, Path Finder may be what you've been looking for. Path Finder is a standalone application that leverages what you already know about working...
- Software downloads 2009-11-19
- FileSalvage 7.0 (Mac)
- FileSalvage is an extremely powerful data recovery tools designed to restore files that have been accidentally deleted, have become unreadable due to media faults, or were stored on a drive before it was re-initialized or formatted. It is device and file system independent, allowing the users to recover files from...
- Software downloads 2009-11-19
- Office 2010 Beta 2: More than just a bunch of pretty icons
- Of course its better, they stole ideas fromOf course 2010 is better, they stole (oops, innovated) most of the new ideas from Office MVPs that built add ins to previous versions. (There is a very silent revolt going on in the MVP ranks over it and many long term...
- Discussion threads 2009-11-18
- ORM Designer 1.1.10.243 (Windows)
- ORM Designer is a visual database designing tool with full support of ORM frameworks. ORM Designer was created to replace kilobytes of text definitions with easy-to-use graphical interface. Thanks to a very flexible design almost any ORM framework with definitions stored in a markup language can be fully supported. Enjoy...
- Software downloads 2009-11-18
- RAR Password Recovery Magic 6.1.1.142 (Windows)
- RAR Password Recovery Magic is a powerful tool designed to recover lost or forgotten passwords for a RAR/WinRAR archives. RAR Password Recovery Magic supports the customizable brute-force and dictionary-based attacks. RAR Password Recovery Magic has an easy to use interface. All you need to do to recover your password is...
- Software downloads 2009-11-18
- Poshier 3.0.10 (Mac)
- Poshier is designed for small retail business looking for truly affordable and full function point of sale POS solution for Mac OS X and Windows. Featuring inventory management, supplier management, purchase order management, customer management, and the most natural and intuitive user interface design. Upgraded user interface to fit screen...
- Software downloads 2009-11-18
- Open Search Server 1.1.2r662 (Mac)
- Open Search Server OSS is a search engine software developed under the GPL v3 open source licence. Built using the best open source technologies available, Open Search Server is a stable, high-performance piece of software. It is both a modern search engine and a suite of high-powered full text search...
- Software downloads 2009-11-17
- RER WMV Converter 3.7.2 (Windows)
- RER WMV Converter is outstanding WMV conversion software for you to convert almost any video format to WMV and convert WMV to all popular video/audio formats, such as MP4, MOV, 3GP, 3G2, MPEG, MPG, VOB, AVI, FLV, H.264, MJPEG, MP3, WMA, with unimaginable fast speed and high quality. with the...
- Software downloads 2009-11-17
- RER WMA Converter 3.7.2 (Windows)
- RER WMA Converter is outstanding WMA conversion software for you to convert almost any video/audio format to WMA and convert WMA to all popular audio formats, such as MP3, WAV, OGG, M4A, AAC, AC3, MP2, 3GP, MP4, with unimaginable fast speed and high quality. with the simplest user-friendly interface, you...
- Software downloads 2009-11-17
- RER MP3 Converter 3.7.2 (Windows)
- RER MP3 Converter is outstanding MP3 conversion software for you to convert almost any video/audio format to MP3 and convert MP3 to all popular audio formats, such as WMA, WAV, OGG, M4A, AAC, AC3, MP2, 3GP, MP4, with unimaginable fast speed and high quality. with the simplest user-friendly interface, you...
- Software downloads 2009-11-17
- RER MKV Converter 3.7.2 (Windows)
- RER MKV Converter is outstanding MKV conversion software for you to convert MKV to all popular video/audio formats, such as MP4, MOV, 3GP, 3G2, MPEG, MPG, VOB, AVI, WMV, FLV, H.264, MJPEG, TS, with unimaginable fast speed and high quality. with the simplest user-friendly interface, you can do the job...
- Software downloads 2009-11-17
- Altova StyleVision Professional Edition 2010 (Windows)
- Altova StyleVision 2010 Professional Edition is a powerful visual XSLT stylesheet designer for graphically designing templates that render eye-catching HTML and RTF output from XML or database data and create intuitive Authentic electronic forms. StyleVision is fully standards-compliant and supports XSLT 1.0, XSLT 2.0, CSS, JavaScript, and all major databases....
- Software downloads 2009-11-17
- The Unarchiver 2.2 (Mac)
- Supports more formats than I can remember. Zip, Tar, Gzip, Bzip2, 7-Zip, Rar, LhA, StuffIt, several old Amiga file and disk archives, CAB, LZX, stuff I don't even know what it is. Copies the Finder file-copying/moving/deleting interface for its interface. Uses the character set autodetection code from Mozilla to auto-detect...
- Software downloads 2009-11-17
Neighboring Terms
Premier Vendor Content Whitepapers, webcasts & resources from our Power Center Sponsors
- The more you simplify, the more you save
-
When you transition from your existing Red Hat environment to SUSE Linux Enterprise from Novell, you can recognize dramatic cost savings, perhaps as much 50%
- Learn more >>
- The best support in the Linux business
-
If Linux is going to power your mission-critical applications, you'd better have the best support known to business. Novell was rated the top provider of Linux technical support.
- Learn more >>
- Learn more about tools to grow your business
-
The Business Essentials Guide provides you useful tools and templates to help grow your business and save you time with automated shipping solutions.
- Save time with the UPS Business Essentials Guide
- The best support in the Linux business
-
If Linux is going to power your mission-critical applications, you'd better have the best support known to business. Novell was rated the top provider of Linux technical support.
- Learn more >>
SmartPlanet
- Thought-provoking progressive ideas on diverse topics that intersect with technology, business, and life, and matter to the world at large. Visit SmartPlanet
- More from IBM
-
- Innovate your business' process model, play against the market, compete against others on our scoreboards and WIN! Try INNOV8 2.0: A BPM Simulator
- Enabling Real-World Business Transformation through IBM Service Management Read the EMA Analyst Report
