Chapter 13

Abstract Classes and Interfaces

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 Motivations
• You have learned how to write simple programs
to create and display GUI components. Can you
write the code to respond to user actions, such
as clicking a button to perform an action?
• In order to write such code, you have to know
about interfaces. An interface is for defining
common behavior for classes (including
unrelated classes). Before discussing interfaces,
we introduce a closely related subject: abstract
classes.
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 Objectives
• To design and use abstract classes (§13.2).
• To generalize numeric wrapper classes, BigInteger, and BigDecimal
using the abstract Number class (§13.3).
• To process a calendar using the Calendar and GregorianCalendar
classes (§13.4).
• To specify common behavior for objects using interfaces (§13.5).
• To define interfaces and define classes that implement interfaces
(§13.5).
• To define a natural order using the Comparable interface (§13.6).
• To make objects cloneable using the Cloneable interface (§13.7).
• To explore the similarities and differences among concrete classes,
abstract classes, and interfaces (§13.8).
• To design the Rational class for processing rational numbers (§13.9).
• To design classes that follow the class-design guidelines (§13.10).
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Abstract Classes and Abstract Methods

GeometricObject

Circle

Rectangle

TestGeometricObject

Run

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abstract method in abstract class
An abstract method cannot be contained in a
nonabstract class. If a subclass of an abstract
superclass does not implement all the abstract
methods, the subclass must be defined abstract. In
other words, in a nonabstract subclass extended from
an abstract class, all the abstract methods must be
implemented, even if they are not used in the
subclass.

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 object cannot be created from abstract class

An abstract class cannot be instantiated using

the new operator, but you can still define its
constructors, which are invoked in the
constructors of its subclasses. For instance,
the constructors of GeometricObject are
invoked in the Circle class and the Rectangle
class.

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abstract class without abstract method

A class that contains abstract methods must

be abstract. However, it is possible to define
an abstract class that contains no abstract
methods. In this case, you cannot create
instances of the class using the new operator.
This class is used as a base class for defining
a new subclass.

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superclass of abstract class may be concrete

A subclass can be abstract even if its

superclass is concrete. For example, the
Object class is concrete, but its subclasses,
such as GeometricObject, may be abstract.

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 concrete method overridden to be abstract

A subclass can override a method from its

superclass to define it abstract. This is rare,
but useful when the implementation of the
method in the superclass becomes invalid in
the subclass. In this case, the subclass must be
defined abstract.

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 abstract class as type

You cannot create an instance from an

abstract class using the new operator, but an
abstract class can be used as a data type.
Therefore, the following statement, which
creates an array whose elements are of
GeometricObject type, is correct.
GeometricObject[] geo = new GeometricObject[10];

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Case Study: the Abstract Number Class

LargestNumbers Run

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The Abstract Calendar Class and Its GregorianCalendar
subclass

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 The Abstract Calendar Class and Its GregorianCalendar
subclass
An instance of java.util.Date represents a specific
instant in time with millisecond precision.
java.util.Calendar is an abstract base class for
extracting detailed information such as year,
month, date, hour, minute and second from a Date
object. Subclasses of Calendar can implement
specific calendar systems such as Gregorian
calendar, Lunar Calendar and Jewish calendar.
Currently, java.util.GregorianCalendar for the
Gregorian calendar is supported in the Java API.
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 The GregorianCalendar Class
You can use new GregorianCalendar() to construct
a default GregorianCalendar with the current time
and use new GregorianCalendar(year, month, date)
to construct a GregorianCalendar with the
specified year, month, and date. The month
parameter is 0-based, i.e., 0 is for January.

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 The get Method in Calendar Class
The get(int field) method defined in the Calendar class is useful to
extract the date and time information from a Calendar object. The
fields are defined as constants, as shown in the following.

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Getting Date/Time Information from
Calendar

TestCalendar

Run

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 Interfaces
What is an interface?
Why is an interface useful?
How do you define an interface?
How do you use an interface?

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 What is an interface?
Why is an interface useful?
An interface is a classlike construct that contains
only constants and abstract methods. In many
ways, an interface is similar to an abstract class,
but the intent of an interface is to specify common
behavior for objects. For example, you can specify
that the objects are comparable, edible, cloneable
using appropriate interfaces.

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 Define an Interface
To distinguish an interface from a class, Java uses the
following syntax to define an interface:
public interface InterfaceName {
constant declarations;
abstract method signatures;
}

Example:
public interface Edible {
/** Describe how to eat */
public abstract String howToEat();
}
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 Interface is a Special Class
An interface is treated like a special class in Java.
Each interface is compiled into a separate
bytecode file, just like a regular class. Like an
abstract class, you cannot create an instance from
an interface using the new operator, but in most
cases you can use an interface more or less the
same way you use an abstract class. For example,
you can use an interface as a data type for a
variable, as the result of casting, and so on.

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 Example
You can now use the Edible interface to specify whether an object is
edible. This is accomplished by letting the class for the object
implement this interface using the implements keyword. For
example, the classes Chicken and Fruit implement the Edible
interface (See TestEdible).

Edible TestEdible Run

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 Omitting Modifiers in Interfaces
All data fields are public final static and all methods are public
abstract in an interface. For this reason, these modifiers can be
omitted, as shown below:

A constant defined in an interface can be accessed using syntax

InterfaceName.CONSTANT_NAME (e.g., T1.K).

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Example: The Comparable Interface

// This interface is defined in

// java.lang package
package java.lang;

public interface Comparable<E> {

public int compareTo(E o);
}

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The toString, equals, and hashCode Methods

Each wrapper class overrides the toString,

equals, and hashCode methods defined in
the Object class. Since all the numeric
wrapper classes and the Character class
implement the Comparable interface, the
compareTo method is implemented in these
classes.

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Integer and BigInteger Classes

String and Date Classes

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 Example
1 System.out.println(new Integer(3).compareTo(new Integer(5)));
2 System.out.println("ABC".compareTo("ABE"));
3 java.util.Date date1 = new java.util.Date(2013, 1, 1);
4 java.util.Date date2 = new java.util.Date(2012, 1, 1);
5 System.out.println(date1.compareTo(date2));

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 Generic sort Method

Let n be an Integer object, s be a String object, and

d be a Date object. All the following expressions are
true.

The java.util.Arrays.sort(array) method requires that

the elements in an array are instances of
Comparable<E>.
SortComparableObjects Run
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Defining Classes to Implement Comparable

ComparableRectangl SortRectangles
e

Run
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 The Cloneable Interfaces
Marker Interface: An empty interface.
A marker interface does not contain constants or methods.
It is used to denote that a class possesses certain desirable
properties. A class that implements the Cloneable
interface is marked cloneable, and its objects can be
cloned using the clone() method defined in the Object
class.

package java.lang;
public interface Cloneable {
}

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 Examples
Many classes (e.g., Date and Calendar) in the Java library implement
Cloneable. Thus, the instances of these classes can be cloned. For
example, the following code

Calendar calendar = new GregorianCalendar(2003, 2, 1);

Calendar calendarCopy = (Calendar)calendar.clone();
System.out.println("calendar == calendarCopy is " +
(calendar == calendarCopy));
System.out.println("calendar.equals(calendarCopy) is " +
calendar.equals(calendarCopy));
 
displays
calendar == calendarCopy is false
calendar.equals(calendarCopy) is true  
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 Implementing Cloneable Interface
To define a custom class that implements the Cloneable
interface, the class must override the clone() method in
the Object class. The following code defines a class
named House that implements Cloneable and
Comparable.

House

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 Shallow vs. Deep Copy
House house1 = new House(1, 1750.50);
House house2 = (House)house1.clone();

Shallow
Copy

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 Shallow vs. Deep Copy
House house1 = new House(1, 1750.50);
House house2 = (House)house1.clone();

Deep
Copy

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 Interfaces vs. Abstract Classes
In an interface, the data must be constants; an abstract class can
have all types of data.
Each method in an interface has only a signature without
implementation; an abstract class can have concrete methods.

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 Interfaces vs. Abstract Classes, cont.
All classes share a single root, the Object class, but there is no single root for
interfaces. Like a class, an interface also defines a type. A variable of an interface
type can reference any instance of the class that implements the interface. If a class
extends an interface, this interface plays the same role as a superclass. You can use
an interface as a data type and cast a variable of an interface type to its subclass,
and vice versa.

Suppose that c is an instance of Class2. c is also an instance of Object, Class1,

Interface1, Interface1_1, Interface1_2, Interface2_1, and Interface2_2.
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 Caution: conflict interfaces
In rare occasions, a class may implement two interfaces
with conflict information (e.g., two same constants with
different values or two methods with same signature but
different return type). This type of errors will be detected
by the compiler.

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 Whether to use an interface or a class?
Abstract classes and interfaces can both be used to model
common features. How do you decide whether to use an
interface or a class? In general, a strong is-a relationship that
clearly describes a parent-child relationship should be modeled
using classes. For example, a staff member is a person. A weak
is-a relationship, also known as an is-kind-of relationship,
indicates that an object possesses a certain property. A weak
is-a relationship can be modeled using interfaces. For example,
all strings are comparable, so the String class implements the
Comparable interface. You can also use interfaces to
circumvent single inheritance restriction if multiple inheritance
is desired. In the case of multiple inheritance, you have to
design one as a superclass, and others as interface.

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 The Rational Class

Rational TestRationalClass Run

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 Designing a Class
(Coherence) A class should describe a single entity,
and all the class operations should logically fit
together to support a coherent purpose. You can
use a class for students, for example, but you should
not combine students and staff in the same class,
because students and staff have different entities.

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 Designing a Class, cont.
(Separating responsibilities) A single entity with too
many responsibilities can be broken into several classes
to separate responsibilities. The classes String,
StringBuilder, and StringBuffer all deal with strings, for
example, but have different responsibilities. The String
class deals with immutable strings, the StringBuilder
class is for creating mutable strings, and the
StringBuffer class is similar to StringBuilder except that
StringBuffer contains synchronized methods for
updating strings.

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 Designing a Class, cont.
Classes are designed for reuse. Users can incorporate
classes in many different combinations, orders, and
environments. Therefore, you should design a class
that imposes no restrictions on what or when the user
can do with it, design the properties to ensure that
the user can set properties in any order, with any
combination of values, and design methods to
function independently of their order of occurrence.

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 Designing a Class, cont.
Provide a public no-arg constructor and override the
equals method and the toString method defined in
the Object class whenever possible.

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 Designing a Class, cont.
Follow standard Java programming style and
naming conventions. Choose informative names
for classes, data fields, and methods. Always
place the data declaration before the constructor,
and place constructors before methods. Always
provide a constructor and initialize variables to
avoid programming errors.

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 Using Visibility Modifiers
Each class can present two contracts – one for the users
of the class and one for the extenders of the class. Make
the fields private and accessor methods public if they
are intended for the users of the class. Make the fields
or method protected if they are intended for extenders
of the class. The contract for the extenders
encompasses the contract for the users. The extended
class may increase the visibility of an instance method
from protected to public, or change its implementation,
but you should never change the implementation in a
way that violates that contract.
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 Using Visibility Modifiers, cont.
A class should use the private modifier to hide its
data from direct access by clients. You can use get
methods and set methods to provide users with
access to the private data, but only to private data
you want the user to see or to modify. A class should
also hide methods not intended for client use. The
gcd method in the Rational class is private, for
example, because it is only for internal use within
the class.

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 Using the static Modifier

A property that is shared by all the

instances of the class should be declared as
a static property.

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