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Java Polymorphism
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Java Polymorphism
Polymorphism means "many forms", and it occurs when we have many classes that are related to each other by
inheritance.
Like we specified in the previous chapter; Inheritance lets us inherit attributes and methods from another class.
Polymorphism uses those methods to perform different tasks. This allows us to perform a single action in
different ways.
For example, think of a superclass called Animal that has a method called animalSound() . Subclasses of
Animals could be Pigs, Cats, Dogs, Birds - And they also have their own implementation of an animal sound (the
pig oinks, and the cat meows, etc.):
Example Get your own Java Server
class Animal {
public void animalSound() {
System.out.println("The animal makes a sound");
}
}
class Pig extends Animal {
public void animalSound() {
System.out.println("The pig says: wee wee");
}
}
class Dog extends Animal {
public void animalSound() {
System.out.println("The dog says: bow wow");
}
}
Remember from the Inheritance chapter that we use the extends keyword to inherit from a class.
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Now we can create Pig and Dog objects and call the animalSound() method on both of them:
Example
class Animal {
public void animalSound() {
System.out.println("The animal makes a sound");
}
}
class Pig extends Animal {
public void animalSound() {
System.out.println("The pig says: wee wee");
}
}
class Dog extends Animal {
public void animalSound() {
System.out.println("The dog says: bow wow");
}
}
class Main {
public static void main(String[] args) {
Animal myAnimal = new Animal(); // Create a Animal object
Animal myPig = new Pig(); // Create a Pig object
Animal myDog = new Dog(); // Create a Dog object
myAnimal.animalSound();
myPig.animalSound();
myDog.animalSound();
}
}
Try it Yourself »
Why And When To Use "Inheritance" and "Polymorphism"?
- It is useful for code reusability: reuse attributes and methods of an existing class when you create a new class.
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