Inheritance, Polymorphism,

Interfaces
Objectives
At the end of the lesson, the student should be able to:

• Define super classes and subclasses

• Override methods of superclasses
• Create final methods and final classes
Inheritance
• In Java, all classes, including the classes that make up the Java
API, are subclassed from the Object superclass.
• A sample class hierarchy is shown below.

• Superclass
• Any class above a specific class in the class hierarchy.
• Subclass
• Any class below a specific class in the class hierarchy.
Inheritance
• Superclass
• Any class above a specific class in the class hierarchy.
• Subclass
• Any class below a specific class in the class hierarchy.
Inheritance
• Benefits of Inheritance in OOP : Reusability
• Once a behavior (method) is defined in a superclass, that behavior
is automatically inherited by all subclasses.
• Thus, you can encode a method only once and they can be used by
all subclasses.
• A subclass only needs to implement the differences between itself
and the parent.
 Inheritance
• To derive a class, we use the extends keyword.
• In order to illustrate this, let's create a sample parent class.
• Suppose we have a parent class called Person.
public class Person {
protected String name;
protected String address;

/**
* Default constructor
*/
public Person(){
System.out.println(“Inside Person:Constructor”);
name = ""; address = "";
}
. . . .
}
Inheritance
• Now, we want to create another class named Student.
• Since a student is also a person, we decide to just extend the
class Person, so that we can inherit all the properties and
methods of the existing class Person.
• To do this, we write,
public class Student extends Person {
public Student(){
System.out.println(“Inside Student:Constructor”);
}
. . . .
}
Inheritance
• When a Student object is instantiated, the default constructor of
its superclass is invoked implicitly to do the necessary
initializations.
• After that, the statements inside the subclass's constructor are
executed.
Inheritance:
• To illustrate this, consider the following code,
public static void main( String[] args ){
Student anna = new Student();
}

• In the code, we create an object of class Student. The output of

the program is,
Inside Person:Constructor
Inside Student:Constructor
Inheritance
• The program flow is shown below.
The “super” keyword
• A subclass can also explicitly call a constructor of its immediate
superclass.

• This is done by using the super constructor call.

• A super constructor call in the constructor of a subclass will

result in the execution of relevant constructor from the
superclass, based on the arguments passed.
 The “super” keyword
• For example, given our previous example classes Person and
Student, we show an example of a super constructor call.
• Given the following code for Student,

public Student(){
super( "SomeName", "SomeAddress" );
System.out.println("Inside Student:Constructor");
}
 The “super” keyword
• Few things to remember when using the super constructor call:
• The super() call MUST OCCUR AS THE FIRST STATEMENT IN A
CONSTRUCTOR.
• The super() call can only be used in a constructor definition.
• This implies that the this() construct and the super() calls CANNOT
BOTH OCCUR IN THE SAME CONSTRUCTOR.
 The “super” keyword
• Another use of super is to refer to members of the superclass
(just like the this reference ).
• For example,
public Student() {
super.name = “somename”;
super.address = “some address”;
}
Overriding methods
• If for some reason a derived class needs to have a different
implementation of a certain method from that of the superclass,
overriding methods could prove to be very useful.

• A subclass can override a method defined in its superclass by

providing a new implementation for that method.
 Example
• Suppose we have the following implementation for the getName
method in the Person superclass,
public class Person {
:
:
public String getName(){
System.out.println("Parent: getName");
return name;
}
}
 Example
• To override, the getName method of the superclass Person, we
write in the subclass Student,
public class Student extends Person{
:
:
public String getName(){
System.out.println("Student: getName");
return name;
}
:
}

• Now, when we invoke the getName method of an object of the

subclass Student, the overridden getName method would be
called, and the output would be,
Student: getName
 Final Classes
• Final Classes
• Classes that cannot be extended
• To declare final classes, we write,
public final ClassName{
. . .
}
• Example:
public final class Person {
. . .
}

• Other examples of final classes are your wrapper classes and

Strings.
 Final Methods and Classes
• Final Methods
• Methods that cannot be overridden
• To declare final methods, we write,
public final [returnType] [methodName]
([parameters]){
. . .
}
• Static methods are automatically final.
Example
public final String getName(){
return name;
}
 Polymorphism
• Polymorphism
• The ability of a reference variable to change behavior according to
what object it is holding.
• This allows multiple objects of different subclasses to be treated as
objects of a single superclass, while automatically selecting the
proper methods to apply to a particular object based on the
subclass it belongs to.

• To illustrate polymorphism, let us discuss an example.

 Polymorphism
• Given the parent class Person and the subclass Student of the
previous examples, we add another subclass of Person which is
Employee.
• Below is the class hierarchy for that,
 Polymorphism
• In Java, we can create a reference that is of type superclass to
an object of its subclass. For example,
public static main( String[] args ) {

Person ref;
Student studentObject = new Student();
Employee employeeObject = new Employee();

ref = studentObject; //Person reference points to a

// Student object
}
 Polymorphism
• Now suppose we have a getName method in our superclass
Person, and we override this method in both the subclasses
Student and Employee.
public class Student {
public String getName(){
System.out.println(“Student Name:” + name);
return name;
}
}

public class Employee {

public String getName(){
System.out.println(“Employee Name:” + name);
return name;
}
}
 Polymorphism
• Going back to our main method, when we try to call the
getName method of the reference Person ref, the getName
method of the Student object will be called.

• Now, if we assign ref to an Employee object, the getName

method of Employee will be called.
 Polymorphism
1 public static main( String[] args ) {
2 Person ref;
3 Student studentObject = new Student();
4 Employee employeeObject = new Employee();

5 ref = studentObject; //Person ref. points to a

6 // Student object

7 //getName of Student class is called

8 String temp=ref.getName();
9 System.out.println( temp );

10 ref = employeeObject; //Person ref. points to an

11 // Employee object
12

13 //getName of Employee class is called

14 String temp = ref.getName();
15 System.out.println( temp );
16 }
 Polymorphism
• Another example that illustrates polymorphism is when we try
to pass references to methods.

• Suppose we have a static method printInformation that takes in

a Person reference as parameter.

public static printInformation( Person p ){

. . . .
}
 Polymorphism
• We can actually pass a reference of type Employee and type
Student to the printInformation method as long as it is a
subclass of the class Person.
public static main( String[] args )
{
Student studentObject = new Student();
Employee employeeObject = new Employee();

printInformation( studentObject );

printInformation( employeeObject );
}
 Abstract Classes
• Abstract class
• a class that cannot be instantiated.
• often appears at the top of an object-oriented programming class
hierarchy, defining the broad types of actions possible with objects
of all subclasses of the class.
 Abstract Classes
• abstract methods
• methods in the abstract classes that do not have implementation
• To create an abstract method, just write the method declaration
without the body and use the abstract keyword

• For example,
public abstract void someMethod();
 Sample Abstract Class
public abstract class LivingThing {
public void breath(){
System.out.println("Living Thing breathing...");
}

public void eat(){

System.out.println("Living Thing eating...");
}

/**
* abstract method walk
* We want this method to be overridden by subclasses of
* LivingThing
*/
public abstract void walk();
}
 Abstract Classes
• When a class extends the LivingThing abstract class, it is
required to override the abstract method walk(), or else, that
subclass will also become an abstract class, and therefore
cannot be instantiated.

• For example,
public class Human extends LivingThing {

public void walk(){

System.out.println("Human walks...");
}

}
 Sample Abstract Class
public abstract class Animal {

public void sleep(){

System.out.println(“Animal is Sleeping”);
}

/*
abstract methods
*/
public abstract void move();
public abstract void makeNoise();
}
 Abstract Classes
• When a class extends the Animal abstract class, we need to
override both move and makeNoise methods.

• For example,
public class Cow extends Animal {

public void move(){

System.out.println(“Walking");
}

public void makeNoise(){

System.out.println(“Moo! Moo!”);
}
}
 Coding Guidelines
• Use abstract classes to define broad types of behaviors at the
top of an object-oriented programming class hierarchy, and use
its subclasses to provide implementation details of the abstract
class.
Interfaces
 Interfaces
• An interface
• is a special kind of block containing method signatures (and
possibly constants) only.
• defines the signatures of a set of methods, without the body.
• defines a standard and public way of specifying the behavior of
classes.
• allows classes, regardless of their locations in the class hierarchy, to
implement common behaviors.
• NOTE: interfaces exhibit polymorphism as well, since program may
call an interface method, and the proper version of that method
will be executed depending on the type of object passed to the
interface method call.
 Why do we use Interfaces?
• To have unrelated classes implement similar methods
• Example:
• Class Line and MyInteger
• Not related
• Both implements comparison methods
• isGreater
• isLess
• isEqual
 Why do we use Interfaces?
• To reveal an object's programming interface without revealing its
class

• To model multiple inheritance which allows a class to have more

than one superclass
 Interface vs. Abstract Class
• Interface methods have no body

• An interface can only define constants

• Interfaces have no direct inherited relationship with any

particular class, they are defined independently
 Interface vs. Class
• Common:
• Interfaces and classes are both types
• This means that an interface can be used in places where a class
can be used
• For example:
PersonInterface pi = new Person();
Person pc = new Person();
• Difference:
• You cannot create an instance from an interface
• For example:
PersonInterface pi = new PersonInterface(); //ERROR!
 Interface vs. Class
 Common:
 Interface and Class can both define methods

 Difference:
 Interface does not have any implementation of the methods
 Creating Interfaces
• To create an interface, we write:

public interface [InterfaceName] {

//some methods without the body
}
 Creating Interfaces
 As an example, let's create an interface that defines
relationships between two objects according to the “natural
order” of the objects.

public interface Relation

{
public boolean isGreater( Object a, Object b);
public boolean isLess( Object a, Object b);
public boolean isEqual( Object a, Object b);
}
 Creating Interfaces
 To use an interface, we use the implements keyword.
 For example,
/**
* This class defines a line segment
*/
public class Line implements Relation {
private double x1;
private double x2;
private double y1;
private double y2;

public Line(double x1, double x2, double y1, double y2){

this.x1 = x1;
this.x2 = x2;
this.y1 = y1;
this.y2 = y2;
}
 Creating Interfaces
public double getLength(){
double length = Math.sqrt((x2-x1)*(x2-x1) + (y2-y1)* (y2-y1));
return length;
}

public boolean isGreater( Object a, Object b){

double aLen = ((Line)a).getLength();
double bLen = ((Line)b).getLength();
return (aLen > bLen);
}

public boolean isLess( Object a, Object b){

double aLen = ((Line)a).getLength();
double bLen = ((Line)b).getLength();
return (aLen < bLen);
}

public boolean isEqual( Object a, Object b){

double aLen = ((Line)a).getLength();
double bLen = ((Line)b).getLength();
return (aLen == bLen);
}
}
 Creating Interfaces
 When your class tries to implement an interface, always
make sure that you implement all the methods of that
interface, or else, you would encounter this error,

Line.java:4: Line is not abstract and does not override

abstract method
isGreater(java.lang.Object,java.lang.Object) in Relation
public class Line implements Relation
^
1 error
 Relationship of an Interface
to a Class
 A class can only EXTEND ONE super class, but it can
IMPLEMENT MANY interfaces.
 For example:
public class Person implements PersonInterface,
LivingThing,
WhateverInterface {

//some code here

}
Relationship of an Interface to
a Class
• Another example:

public class ComputerScienceStudent extends Student

implements PersonInterface,
LivingThing {

//some code here

}
 Inheritance among Interfaces
• Interfaces are not part of the class hierarchy. However,
interfaces can have inheritance relationship among themselves
• For example:

public interface PersonInterface {

. . .
}

public interface StudentInterface extends PersonInterface {

. . .
}
Summary
• Inheritance (superclass, subclass)
• Using the super keyword to access fields and constructors of
superclasses
• Overriding Methods
• Final Methods and Final Classes
• Polymorphism (Abstract Classes, Interfaces)