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Lecture 13 Inheritance

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10 views

Lecture 13 Inheritance

Uploaded by

Abcd Efgh
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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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Maharaja Agrasen Institute of

Technology
CIC-212 Java Programming

Inheritance
Inheritance
Inheritance is a fundamental object-
oriented design technique used to
create and organize reusable classes.
This presentation focuses on:
 deriving new classes from existing classes
 the protected modifier
 creating class hierarchies
 abstract classes
 indirect visibility of inherited members
 designing for inheritance
Inheritance
 Inheritance allows a software developer to derive a
new class from an existing one.
 The existing class is called the parent class, or super
class, or base class.
 The derived class is called the child class or subclass.
 As the name implies, the child inherits characteristics
of the parent.
 That is, the child class inherits the methods and data
defined by the parent class
 We can refer to these inherited methods and variables
as if they were declared locally in the class
Inheritance
 Inheritance relationships are shown in a UML
class diagram using a solid arrow with an
unfilled triangular arrowhead pointing to the
parent class.
Vehicle

Car

 Proper inheritance creates an is-a relationship,


meaning the child is a more specific version of
the parent.
Inheritance
 A programmer can tailor a derived class as
needed by adding new variables or methods, or
by modifying the inherited ones.
 Software reuse is a fundamental benefit of
inheritance.
 By using existing software components to
create new ones, we capitalize on all the effort
that went into the design, implementation, and
testing of the existing software.
Deriving Subclasses

 In Java, we use the reserved word extends to


establish an inheritance relationship

class Car extends Vehicle


{
// class contents
}
Class Diagram for Words

Book
# pages : int
+ pageMessage() :
void

Words Dictionary
- definitions : int
+ main (args : String[]) :
void + definitionMessage() :
void
Example
Example
Example
The protected Modifier
 Visibility modifiers affect the way that class
members can be used in a child class.
 Variables and methods declared with private
visibility cannot be referenced by name in a
child class.
 They can be referenced in the child class if they
are declared with public visibility -- but public
variables violate the principle of encapsulation.
 There is a third visibility modifier that helps in
inheritance situations: protected.
The protected Modifier
The protected modifier allows a child
class to reference a variable or method
directly in the child class.
It provides more encapsulation than
public visibility, but is not as tightly
encapsulated as private visibility.
A protected variable is visible to any class
in the same package as the parent class.
The super Reference
 Constructors are not inherited, even
though they have public visibility.
 Yet we often want to use the parent's
constructor to set up the "parent's part"
of the object.
 The super reference can be used to
refer to the parent class, and often is
used to invoke the parent's constructor.
Example
Example
Example
The super Reference
A child’s constructor is responsible for
calling the parent’s constructor.
If the child constructor invokes the
parent (constructor) by using the super
reference, it
MUST be the first line of code of the
constructor.
The super reference can also be used to
reference other variables and methods
defined in the parent class.
Multiple Inheritance
 Java supports single inheritance, meaning that
a derived class can have only one parent class.
 Multiple inheritance allows a class to be
derived from two or more classes, inheriting
the members of all parents.
 Collisions, such as the same variable name in
two parents, have to be resolved.
 Java does not support multiple inheritance.
 In most cases, the use of interfaces gives us
aspects of multiple inheritance without the
overhead.
Overriding Methods
 A child class can override the definition
of an inherited method in favor of its
own.
 The new method must have the same
signature as the parent's method, but
can have a different body.
 The type of the object executing the
method determines which version of the
method is invoked.
Example
Example
Example
Overriding
 A method in the parent class can be
invoked explicitly using the super
reference.
 If a method is declared with the final
modifier, it cannot be overridden.
 The concept of overriding can be applied
to data and is called shadowing
variables.
 Shadowing variables should be avoided
because it tends to cause unnecessarily
Overloading vs. Overriding
 Overloading deals with multiple methods with
the same name in the same class, but with
different signatures.
 Overriding deals with two methods, one in a
parent class and one in a child class, that have
the same signature.
 Overloading lets you define a similar operation
in different ways for different parameters.
 Overriding lets you define a similar operation in
different ways for different object types.
Class Hierarchies
 A child class of one parent can be the parent of
another child, forming a class hierarchy.

Business

RetailBusin ServiceBusine
ess ss

KMart BMart Kinkos


Class Hierarchies
 Two children of the same parent are called
siblings.
 Common features should be put as high in the
hierarchy as is reasonable.
 An inherited member is passed continually
down the line.
 Therefore, a child class inherits from all its
ancestor classes.
 There is no single class hierarchy that is
appropriate for all situations.
The Object Class
 A class called Object is defined in the
java.lang package of the Java standard
class library.
 All classes are derived from the Object
class.
 If a class is not explicitly defined to be
the child of an existing class, it is
assumed to be the child of the Object
class.
 Therefore, the Object class is the
The Object Class
 The Object class contains a few useful
methods, which are inherited by all classes.
 For example, the toString method is defined
in the Object class.
 Every time we define the toString method,
we are actually overriding an inherited
definition.
 The toString method in the Object class is
defined to return a string that contains the
name of the object’s class along with some
other information.
The Object Class
 The equals method of the Object class returns
true if two references are aliases.
 We can override equals in any class to define
equality in some more appropriate way.
 As we've seen, the String class defines the
equals method to return true if two String
objects contain the same characters.
 The designers of the String class have
overridden the equals method inherited from
Object in favor of a more useful version.
Abstract Classes
 An abstract class is a placeholder in a class
hierarchy that represents a generic concept.
 An abstract class cannot be instantiated.
 We use the modifier abstract on the class
header to declare a class as abstract:
public abstract class Product
{
// contents
}
Abstract Classes
 An abstract class often contains abstract
methods with no definitions (like an interface).
 Unlike an interface, the abstract modifier
must be applied to each abstract method.
 Also, an abstract class typically contains non-
abstract methods with full definitions.
 A class declared as abstract does not have to
contain abstract methods -- simply declaring it
as abstract makes it so.
Abstract Classes
 The child of an abstract class must override
the abstract methods of the parent (define it),
or it too will be considered abstract.
 An abstract method cannot be defined as
final or static.
 The use of abstract classes is an important
element of software design – it allows us to
establish common elements in a hierarchy
that are too generic to instantiate.
Interface Hierarchies
 Inheritance can be applied to interfaces as well
as to classes.
 That is, one interface can be derived from
another interface.
 The child interface inherits all abstract methods
of the parent.
 A class implementing the child interface must
define all methods from both the ancestor and
child interfaces.
 Note that class hierarchies and interface
hierarchies are distinct (they do not overlap).
Visibility Revisited
 It's important to understand one subtle issue
related to inheritance and visibility.
 All variables and methods of a parent class,
even private members, are inherited by its
children.
 As we've mentioned, private members cannot
be referenced by name in the child class.
 However, private members inherited by child
classes exist and can be referenced indirectly.
Visibility Revisited

 Because the parent can refer to the private


member, the child can reference it indirectly
using its parent's methods.
 The super reference can be used to refer to
the parent class, even if no object of the
parent exists.
Example
Example
Designing for Inheritance
 Inheritance issues are an important part
of an object-oriented design.
 Properly designed inheritance
relationships can contribute greatly to
the elegance, maintainability and reuse
of the software.
 Let's summarize some of the issues
regarding inheritance that relate to a
good software design.
Inheritance Design Issues
 Every derivation should be an is-a relationship.
 Think about the potential future of a class
hierarchy, and design classes to be reusable
and flexible.
 Find common characteristics of classes and
push them as high in the class hierarchy as
appropriate.
 Override methods as appropriate to tailor or
change the functionality of a child.
 Add new variables to children, but don't
redefine (shadow) inherited variables.
Inheritance Design Issues
 Allow each class to manage its own data; use
the super reference to invoke the parent's
constructor to set up its data.
 Even if there are no current uses for them,
override general methods such as toString
and equals with appropriate definitions.
 Use abstract classes to represent general
concepts that lower classes have in common.
 Use visibility modifiers carefully to provide
needed access without violating encapsulation.
Restricting Inheritance
 The final modifier can be used to curtail
inheritance.
 If the final modifier is applied to a method,
then that method cannot be overridden in any
descendent classes.
 If the final modifier is applied to an entire
class, then that class cannot be used to derive
any children at all.
 Thus, an abstract class cannot be declared as final.

 These are key design decisions, establishing


that a method or class should be used as is.

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