Scribd
Upload
9 views6 pages

Lesson 7 - Polymorphism

This lesson covers the concept of polymorphism in programming, which refers to 'different forms of the same thing' through examples and definitions. It explains method overloading, method overriding, constructor overloading, and polymorphic behavior of objects, detailing the conditions required for each. The lesson concludes with an exercise to create classes and demonstrate polymorphism through object arrays.

Uploaded by

saifurrahman5309
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
9 views6 pages

Lesson 7 - Polymorphism

This lesson covers the concept of polymorphism in programming, which refers to 'different forms of the same thing' through examples and definitions. It explains method overloading, method overriding, constructor overloading, and polymorphic behavior of objects, detailing the conditions required for each. The lesson concludes with an exercise to create classes and demonstrate polymorphism through object arrays.

Uploaded by

saifurrahman5309
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 6

Lesson 7

Polymorphism

By the end of this lesson you will learn:

• Introduction to Polymorphism
• Method Overloading
• Method Overriding
• Constructor Overloading
• Polymorphic Behavior of Objects

Polymorphism Definition: It means ‘Different Forms of the Same Thing’. In other words ‘One
Name, Different Forms’.
Example:
✓ Imagine, you and your friend are walking inside your MidTerm exam room. Just before
entering the room, your friend is saying, “You are my best friend, brother. Don’t worry
about the exam. I got your back. I’ll slide my script a bit right from me, all you need to do
is to take a peek and write. ”Now, during the exam, no matter how much you poke your
friend, your friend is neither responding nor sliding the script. You are really upset
with your friend. And after the exam, your friend is like, “I’m sorry, brother. Please forgive
me. I’m your best friend. Let me give you a treat. Lets have some fun in Canteen.”

What do you learn from the story?


• Before the Exam: Your Friend is a Friend.
• During The Exam: Your Friend acts Like Enemy.
• After The Exam: Your Friend is a Friend Again.
The story highlights on different forms of your friend. Sometimes he is like a friend, sometimes
he is like an enemy.
✓ Another example is when you go to shopping you behave like a customer, when you go to
school you behave like a student and in bus behave like a passenger. This is a another
example of polymorphism.

In Programming the polymorphic behavior might be with methods, Constructors and Objects.

• Method Overloading.
• Method Overriding.
• Constructor Overloading.
• Polymorphic Behavior of Objects.

Method Overloading:
As the name suggests, it happens among methods. There are some conditions of method
overloading. If and only If these conditions are met, we can say that there are method
overloading among those methods.
These conditions are:

• Methods MUST be in same class.


• Method Name MUST be same.
• Method Parameter MUST be different.
• Method Return Type may or may not be same.
Method Overloading Example:
public class MyClass{
public void add( ){. . .}
public void add(int a) {. . .}
public void add(int a, int b) {. . .}
public void add(double a, double b) {. . .}
public void add(int a, double b) {. . .}
public void add(double a, int b) {. . .}
//public int add(int a) {. . .}
}
public class YourClass{
public void add( ){. . .}
public void add(int a) {. . .}
}

Here all add methods are overloaded methods. All of the conditions for overloading is fulfilled.

Method Overriding: Again, it happens among methods. There are some conditions of method
overriding. If and only If these conditions are met, we can say that there are method overriding
among those methods.
These conditions are:

• Methods MUST be in two different classes.


• There MUST be inheritance between the two classes.
• Method Name MUST be same.
• Method Parameter MUST be same.
• Method Return Type MUST be same.
public class Alpha{
public void show( ){. . .}
public void print( ){. . .}
}
public class Bravo extends Alpha{
public void show( ){. . .}
public void print(int a){. . .}
}

public class Charlie extends Alpha{


public void show(int a){. . .}
public void print( ){. . .}
}
public class Delta{
public void show( ){. . .}
public void print( ){. . .}
}

Constructor Overloading: As the name suggests, it happens among Constructors. There are
some conditions of constructor overloading. If and only If these conditions are met, we can say
that there is constructor overloading in that class. These conditions are:

• Constructors MUST be of same class.


• Constructor Parameter MUST be different.
Just look at all the classes we have written this far. All of them has two constructors. One is
Empty and the other is Parameterized.
Polymorphic behavior of Objects: According to the Polymorphic Behavior of Objects, An
Object Reference of Parent Class can hold an Object of a Child Class.
Before going for an example, let’s assume the following Inheritance Tree:

From the Inheritance tree, we can write the following statements:

Person p = new Person( );


Employee e = new Employee( );
Faculty f = new Faculty( );
Student s = new Student( );
According to polymorphic behavior of objects, we can also write the following statements:

Person p1 = new Employee( );


Person p2 = new Faculty( );
Person p3 = new Student( );
Employee e1 = new Faculty( );

But we can not write the following statements:

Employee e2 = new Student( );


Student s2 = new Faculty( );

Exercise: Create the following classes:


Rectangle
Shape double length
double area() double width

Rectangle()
Rectangle(double length,double width)

double area()

Circle Triangle

double radius double base

Circle() double height

Circle(double radius) Triangle()


Triangle(double base,double height)
double area()
double area()

Start

Create object array of shape class. Store object of child classes in different index. Now invoke area
method of the clild classes using the object of shape class.

You might also like