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Polymorphism: Example

Polymorphism allows an object to take on many forms. In object-oriented programming, polymorphism occurs when a parent class reference is used to refer to a child class object. Any Java object that passes more than one "IS-A" test is considered polymorphic. All Java objects are polymorphic since any object passes the "IS-A" test for its own type and the Object class. A reference variable determines which methods can be invoked on an object but can refer to any object that is its declared type or a subtype.

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118 views4 pages

Polymorphism: Example

Polymorphism allows an object to take on many forms. In object-oriented programming, polymorphism occurs when a parent class reference is used to refer to a child class object. Any Java object that passes more than one "IS-A" test is considered polymorphic. All Java objects are polymorphic since any object passes the "IS-A" test for its own type and the Object class. A reference variable determines which methods can be invoked on an object but can refer to any object that is its declared type or a subtype.

Uploaded by

Praneeth Mutnuru
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Polymorphism

Polymorphism is the ability of an object to take on many forms. The most common
use of polymorphism in OOP occurs when a parent class reference is used to refer
to a child class object.

Any Java object that can pass more than one IS-A test is considered to be
polymorphic. In Java, all Java objects are polymorphic since any object will pass
the IS-A test for their own type and for the class Object.

It is important to know that the only possible way to access an object is through a
reference variable. A reference variable can be of only one type. Once declared, the
type of a reference variable cannot be changed.

The reference variable can be reassigned to other objects provided that it is not
declared final. The type of the reference variable would determine the methods that
it can invoke on the object.

A reference variable can refer to any object of its declared type or any subtype of
its declared type. A reference variable can be declared as a class or interface type.

Example:

Let us look at an example.

public interface Vegetarian{}


public class Animal{}
public class Deer extends Animal implements Vegetarian{}

Now, the Deer class is considered to be polymorphic since this has multiple
inheritance. Following are true for the above example:

 A Deer IS-A Animal


 A Deer IS-A Vegetarian
 A Deer IS-A Deer
 A Deer IS-A Object

When we apply the reference variable facts to a Deer object reference, the
following declarations are legal:
Deer d = new Deer();
Animal a = d;
Vegetarian v = d;
Object o = d;

All the reference variables d,a,v,o refer to the same Deer object in the heap.

Virtual Methods:

In this section, I will show you how the behavior of overridden methods in Java
allows you to take advantage of polymorphism when designing your classes.

We already have discussed method overriding, where a child class can override a
method in its parent. An overridden method is essentially hidden in the parent
class, and is not invoked unless the child class uses the super keyword within the
overriding method.

/* File name : Employee.java */


public class Employee
{
private String name;
private String address;
private int number;
public Employee(String name, String address, int number)
{
System.out.println("Constructing an Employee");
this.name = name;
this.address = address;
this.number = number;
}
public void mailCheck()
{
System.out.println("Mailing a check to " + this.name
+ " " + this.address);
}
public String toString()
{
return name + " " + address + " " + number;
}
public String getName()
{
return name;
}
public String getAddress()
{
return address;
}
public void setAddress(String newAddress)
{
address = newAddress;
}
public int getNumber()
{
return number;
}
}

Now suppose we extend Employee class as follows:

/* File name : Salary.java */


public class Salary extends Employee
{
private double salary; //Annual salary
public Salary(String name, String address, int number, double
salary)
{
super(name, address, number);
setSalary(salary);
}
public void mailCheck()
{
System.out.println("Within mailCheck of Salary class ");
System.out.println("Mailing check to " + getName()
+ " with salary " + salary);
}
public double getSalary()
{
return salary;
}
public void setSalary(double newSalary)
{
if(newSalary >= 0.0)
{
salary = newSalary;
}
}
public double computePay()
{
System.out.println("Computing salary pay for " + getName());
return salary/52;
}
}
/* File name : VirtualDemo.java */
public class VirtualDemo
{
public static void main(String [] args)
{
Salary s = new Salary("Mohd Mohtashim", "Ambehta, UP", 3, 3600.00);
Employee e = new Salary("John Adams", "Boston, MA", 2, 2400.00);
System.out.println("Call mailCheck using Salary reference --");
s.mailCheck();
System.out.println("\n Call mailCheck using Employee reference--");
e.mailCheck();
}
}

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