Interface: What Is An Interface In Computing?

What Is an Interface?

In computer science, the term ‘interface’ refers to the physical and logical interconnection between two independent devices or systems, or between a computer system and its human user. This term is borrowed from the English word “interface”, understood as the “surface of contact” between two entities, and was popularised through computer technology.

Interfaces serve to regulate and facilitate the exchange of information. They can take different forms, depending on the specific context in which they occur and the strategies they use to achieve their purpose, as illustrated in the following examples.

Types of Interfaces 

• User interfaces are those that allow a user to communicate with a computer system. For example, a keyboard and mouse constitute a user interface between a PC and its user. 
• Physical interfaces are those used to physically (i.e., electronically) connect two devices. For example, the USB ports on computers and game consoles.
• Logical interfaces allow communication between two programs or pieces of software, as in the case of computer protocols. For example, the API and the DOM. So, in essence, interfaces serve as a space, a tool, and a dynamic for data exchange.

What Is a User Interface?

In the specific case of user interfaces, we refer to the space or environment in which interactions between machine and user occur, designed to facilitate communication between them. These are generally intuitive, user-friendly spaces that, through various mechanisms, allow the user to manage the complex processes of the computer system.

Thus, user interfaces encompass three different levels of human-machine interaction, which are as follows:

Hardware Interfaces

Hardware interfaces refer solely to the physical and electronic components of the system that allow the user to input and output information to and from the system. Examples include keyboards, mouse, touchscreens, and displays.

Software Interfaces

Software interfaces refer to the specific functioning of computer programs and the virtual information that “occurs” or “takes place” within the computer. This is the case with the applications we use daily in our work with computers.

Hardware-Software Interfaces

Hardware-software interfaces are dedicated to establishing a bridge between the machine and the user, translating human instructions into the system’s language so it can carry them out exactly, and at the same time translating the system’s responses from binary code into a language that is recognisable by the user.

At the same time, according to their way of interacting with the user, interfaces can be classified as:

• Command-line interfaces (CLIs), when they consist of sequences of alphanumeric characters, that is, text only. For example, MS-DOS.
• Graphical user interfaces (GUIs) reproduce a simulated (virtual) visual environment whose logic allows communication with the user. For example, Microsoft Windows.
• Natural user interfaces (NUIs) employ “natural” human dynamics, such as speech or touch (via touchscreens), to communicate directly with the user. Examples include AI assistants (like Apple’s Siri).

What Is a Graphical User Interface (GUI)?

In general, graphical user interfaces (GUIs) are computer programs designed to mediate between the user and a computer system. They provide a visual environment with images, animations, and graphical objects that represent system information and the possible actions users can perform. Their primary use is as part of an operating system, as is the case with Microsoft Windows, iOS, macOS, Linux, Android, etc.

These types of interfaces offer the user an interactive graphical language, composed of icons, signals, movements, and other dynamics that represent the actions of the computer system. They provide a much more user-friendly working environment than a black screen with a single line of command text, or worse, a set of algebraic operations.

History Of Graphical User Interfaces

The first graphical user interfaces emerged in the 1970s as part of early personal computing systems. They used the office desktop metaphor as the motif for the graphical environment, since computers were initially conceived solely as work tools.

Subsequently, the arrival of the first Apple and Microsoft products represented a major advance in this area, leading to the widespread use of graphical and other interface technologies to interact with computer systems.

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