Interfaces can't be instantiated but is this an exception

I'm very surprised after seeing that I actually have to Instantiate an Interface to use the Word Interoop in C#. 

Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word.Application word = new Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word.Application();

The Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word.Application according to what its XML documentation says is an interface:

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How is it possible, has visual studio confused it with something else? Or what allows this interface to be instantiated?

Jon Skeet
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It's because it's a COM interface. COM interfaces - and only COM interfaces - can be instantiated directly. The runtime will create an instance of the real type behind the scenes. Personally I think it's a bit ugly (and I can't find any references to it in the C# spec) but there we go.

You can actually fake this so that the C# compiler will believe your interface is a COM type without getting COM involved properly... see my related question for details.

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