doubt in interface data members

[Abhi murali]

Why does an interface have public static and final as the modifiers of the data members? Why not just public and final or just public, so that when a class implements an interface the member inherited(?? am i using the correct word) from the interface is used by the class?
Please let me know why other combinations of public ,static and final , 2 taken at a time are not possible.

[Greg Charles]

Actually, interface method aren't allowed to be static or final, and public doesn't make any difference since all the methods are assumed to be public.

You can also use interfaces to bring in constants though, and you are allowed to use static and final on those fields. I'm not sure they make any difference either though.

[Ram Narayan.M]

Since Interface provides a facility of having abstract methods... And instances cannot be created for Interfaces... So it is declared by default as static

[Greg Charles]

Static abstract methods don't make sense, but static fields do. You can add the public modifier to interface methods, and any combination of public, static, and final modifiers on interface fields. I did some experimentation and none of the modifiers make any difference.

    
public interface IfTest {
     public void myMethod();
}

is the same as:

    
public interface IfTest {
     void myMethod();
}

and

    
public interface IfTest {
     public static final int MY_CONSTANT = 4;
}

is the same as

    
public interface IfTest {
     int MY_CONSTANT = 4;
}

Interface methods always act like public methods, and interface fields always act like public static final fields.

[Abhi murali]

My question was related to variables not the methods.I am sorry, I think I should have been more specific. The variables in the interface are always public static and final.Removing any of public ,static or final does not make any difference.
Now why did the people who designed Java decided that the variables in an interface have to be public static and final?

[Sudipta Banerjee]

Data members in an interface are final by default because interfaces have no means of initializing its data members, as it does not have constructors or concrete methods. Which is why they are declared as final(and initialized inline).

Data members in an interface are static by default because interfaces can never be instantiated.

[Gaurangkumar Khalasi]

Class Object is the root of the class hierarchy. Every class has Object as a superclass.

Interface do not have any super class and do not come into the class hierarchy of the JAVA.
And Constructor is required for any classes which come into this hierarchy, even it is also required for abstract classes.
Constructor is provided a way to instantiate class' object. And as interface do not have it, it can not be possible to put instance members in it.

Interface methods just provide a contracts for other classes to use it and also forces(by abstract keyword) to give an implementation for it.
And with public keyword, any class can access them.

Interface has only constants(therefore they are final), and not instance variables.
By declaring static, it say that it is (class) constant for every classes which will satisfy its method's contract.
And with public keyword, any class can access them.