INHERITANCE IN JAVA
Inheritance in Java
• Mechanism of deriving new class from old class.
The old class is known as-
Base Class / Super class / Parent Class
• The new class is known as-
Derived class/ Sub Class / Child class
Types:
Single Inheritance
Multilevel Inheritance
Multiple inheritance
Hierarchical Inheritance
Inheritance In Java
Single inheritance -
When a class extends another one class only then we
call it a single inheritance.
The below flow diagram shows that class B extends
only one class which is A.
Here A is a parent class of B and B would be a child
class of A.
Single Inheritance example program in Java
Class A
{
public void methodA()
{
System.out.println("Base class method");
}
}
Class B extends A
{
public void methodB()
{
System.out.println("Child class method");
}
public static void main(String args[])
{
B obj = new B();
obj.methodA(); //calling super class method
obj.methodB(); //calling local method
}
}
Sub Class Constructor
• A subclass constructor is used to construct the instance
variables of both the subclass and the superclass.
• The subclass constructor uses the keyword super to
invoke the constructor method of superclass.
• The super Keyword is used with following Conditions
super may only be used within a subclass constructor.
The call to super must appear as first statement.
Parameters in the super call must match with
declaration in superclass.
class Vehicle
{
Vehicle()
{
System.out.println("Vehicle is created");
}
}
class Bike extends Vehicle{
Bike()
{
super(); //will invoke parent class constructor
System.out.println("Bike is created");
}
public static void main(String args[]){
Bike b=new Bike();
}
}
“Multiple Inheritance”
• “Multiple Inheritance” refers to the concept
of one class extending (Or inherits) more than
one base class.
• The problem with “multiple inheritance” is
that the derived class will have to manage the
dependency on two base classes.
Multilevel Inheritance
• Multilevel inheritance refers to a mechanism
in OO technology where one can inherit from
a derived class, thereby making this derived
class the base class for the new class.
• As you can see in below flow diagram C is
subclass or child class of B and B is a child class
of A. A
