Terminology
Inheritance is a fundamental Object Oriented concept
A class can be defined as a "subclass" of another class.
The subclass inherits all data attributes of its superclass
The subclass inherits all methods of its superclass
The subclass inherits all associations of its superclass
The subclass can: superclass: Person
- name: String
Add new functionality - dob: Date
Use inherited functionality
Override inherited functionality
subclass: Employee
- employeeID: int
- salary: int
- startDate: Date
What really happens?
When an object is created using new, the system must
allocate enough memory to hold all its instance variables.
This includes any inherited instance variables
In this example, we can say that an Employee "is a kind of"
Person.
An Employee object inherits all of the attributes, methods and
associations of Person
Person Person
- name: String name = "John Smith"
- dob: Date dob = Jan 13, 1954
Employee
name = "Sally Halls"
is a kind of
dob = Mar 15, 1968
Employee employeeID = 37518
- employeeID: int salary = 65000
- salary: int startDate = Dec 15,
- startDate: Date 2000
Inheritance in Java
Inheritance is declared using the "extends" keyword
If inheritance is not defined, the class extends a class called Object
public class Person
{
Person
- name: String
private String name;
- dob: Date
private Date dob;
[...]
public class Employee extends Person
{ Employee
private int employeID; - employeeID: int
private int salary; - salary: int
private Date startDate; - startDate: Date
[...]
Employee anEmployee = new Employee();
Inheritance Hierarchy
Each Java class has one (and only one) superclass.
C++ allows for multiple inheritance
Inheritance creates a class hierarchy
Classes higher in the hierarchy are more general and more abstract
Classes lower in the hierarchy are more specific and concrete
There is no limit to the Class
number of subclasses a class
can have Class Class Class
There is no limit to the depth
Class Class Class
of the class tree.
Class
The class called Object
At the very top of the inheritance tree is a class called Object
All Java classes inherit from Object.
All objects have a common ancestor
This is different from C++
The Object class is defined in the java.lang package
Examine it in the Java API Specification
Object
Constructors and Initialization
Classes use constructors to initialize instance variables
When a subclass object is created, its constructor is called.
It is the responsibility of the subclass constructor to invoke the
appropriate superclass constructors so that the instance variables
defined in the superclass are properly initialized
Superclass constructors can be called using the "super"
keyword in a manner similar to "this"
It must be the first line of code in the constructor
If a call to super is not made, the system will automatically
attempt to invoke the no-argument constructor of the
superclass.
Constructors - Example
public class BankAccount
{
private String ownersName;
private int accountNumber;
private float balance;
public BankAccount(int anAccountNumber, String aName)
{
accountNumber = anAccountNumber;
ownersName = aName;
}
[...]
}
public class OverdraftAccount extends BankAccount
{
private float overdraftLimit;
public OverdraftAccount(int anAccountNumber, String aName, float aLimit)
{
super(anAccountNumber, aName);
overdraftLimit = aLimit;
}
}
Method Overriding
Subclasses inherit all methods from their superclass
Sometimes, the implementation of the method in the superclass does
not provide the functionality required by the subclass.
In these cases, the method must be overridden.
To override a method, provide an implementation in the
subclass.
The method in the subclass MUST have the exact same signature as
the method it is overriding.
Method overriding - Example
public class BankAccount
{
private String ownersName;
private int accountNumber;
protected float balance;
public void deposit(float anAmount)
{
if (anAmount>0.0)
balance = balance + anAmount;
}
public void withdraw(float anAmount)
{
if ((anAmount>0.0) && (balance>anAmount))
balance = balance - anAmount;
}
public float getBalance()
{
return balance;
}
}
Method overriding - Example
public class OverdraftAccount extends BankAccount
{
private float limit;
public void withdraw(float anAmount)
{
if ((anAmount>0.0) && (getBalance()+limit>anAmount))
balance = balance - anAmount;
}
}
Object References and Inheritance
Inheritance defines "a kind of" relationship.
In the previous example, OverdraftAccount "is a kind of" BankAccount
Because of this relationship, programmers can "substitute"
object references.
A superclass reference can refer to an instance of the superclass OR
an instance of ANY class which inherits from the superclass.
BankAccount anAccount = new BankAccount(123456, "Craig");
BankAccount account1 = new OverdraftAccount(3323, "John", 1000.0);
BankAccount
anAccount name = "Craig"
accountNumber = 123456
OverdraftAccount
name = "John"
accountNumber = 3323
account1
limit = 1000.0
Polymorphism
In the previous slide, the two variables are defined to have
the same type at compile time: BankAccount
However, the types of objects they are referring to at runtime are
different
What happens when the withdraw method is invoked on each
object?
anAccount refers to an instance of BankAccount. Therefore, the
withdraw method defined in BankAccount is invoked.
account1 refers to an instance of OverdraftAccount. Therefore, the
withdraw method defined in OverdraftAccount is invoked.
Polymorphism is: The method being invoked on an object is
determined AT RUNTIME and is based on the type of the
object receiving the message.
Final Methods and Final Classes
Methods can be qualified with the final modifier
Final methods cannot be overridden.
This can be useful for security purposes.
public final boolean validatePassword(String username, String Password)
{
[...]
Classes can be qualified with the final modifier
The class cannot be extended
This can be used to improve performance. Because there an be no
subclasses, there will be no polymorphic overhead at runtime.
public final class Color
{
[...]
