Question

Should methods in a Java interface be declared with or without the public access modifier?

Technically it doesn’t matter, of course. A class method that implements an interface is always public. But what is a better convention?

Java itself is not consistent in this. See for instance Collection vs. Comparable, or Future vs. ScriptEngine.

Answer 1

The JLS makes this clear:

It is permitted, but discouraged as a matter of style, to redundantly specify the public and/or abstract modifier for a method declared in an interface.