uni/year2/semester1/logseq-stuff/pages/Coding Up Inheritance.md

• #CT2106 - Object-Oriented Programming
• Previous Topic: Introduction to Inheritance
• Next Topic: Abstraction & Polymorphism
• Relevant Slides:

• Key Ideas in a Class Hierarchy

  • The top of the hierarchy represents the most generic attributes & behaviours.
  • The bottom (the leaves) represent the most specific attributes & behaviours.
  • Each level inherits & customises the attributes & behaviours from the level above it.
  • What is OOP Inheritance? #card card-last-interval:: 4 card-repeats:: 2 card-ease-factor:: 2.7 card-next-schedule:: 2022-11-22T18:35:20.846Z card-last-reviewed:: 2022-11-18T18:35:20.847Z card-last-score:: 5
    • OOP Inheritance is the means by which objects automatically receive features (fields) & behaviours (methods) from their super classes.

• Java Class Hierarchy

  • At the top of the Java Class Hierarchy is a class called java.lang.Object.
  • All classes inherit implicitly from java.lang.Object.
    • This means that a class doesn't have to specify explicitly that java.lang.Object is its superclass.

  • Rules of Class Hierarchy

    • In Java, the variable type can be the superclass of the object.
      • The variable type can be any superclass of the object, not just java.lang.Object.

• Explicit Inheritance

  • All classes inherit methods implicitly from java.lang.Object.
    • Two common methods that are inherited from java.lang.Object:
      • equals()
      • toString()
  • In every other case, you have to tell Java which classes are in a superclass relationship.

  • Steps

    • 1. Create the classes
      2. Inert the inheritance relationships.
      3. Insert the fields.
      4. Insert the methods.
      5. Override the necessary fields.
      6. Override necessary methods.
      7. Test by putting objects in an array & calling their behaviours.

  • Defining Inheritance #card

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    • The keyword extends indicates the subclass to be extended (inherited from).
    • You must call the constructor of the superclass using the method call super().
      • If the superclass constructor takes a parameter, then the call to super() must include a value of the parameter.
    • For example:

      • public class Bird extends Animal
        {
        	boolean hasFeathers;	// these fields aren't private.
            boolean hasWings;		// we want these fields to be inherited
            boolean flies;			// so we don't make the private.
        
            public Bird()
            {
            	super();	// calls the constructor of its superclass - Animal
                colour = "black";
                hsaFeathers = true;
                hasWings = true;
                flies = true;
            }
        }
        

• abstract #card

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  • It may not make sense to have an object of a superclass type.
    • For example, there is no object that is just an Animal or Bird and no more than that - all Animals are a specific subclass of Animal.
  • ^^The Java keyword abstract allows you to specify which classes can be made into objects and which are used for inheritance purposes.^^
    • Adding the keyword abstract to the class definition tells Java that it can't make objects from this class.
    • However, an abstract class can still be used as a type of reference variable.

      • Bird bird = new Canary("John");
        Animal animal = new Canary("Mary");
        

  • For example:

    • public abstract class Animal	// doesn't allow objects of just type Animal
      

    • public abstract class Bird extends Animal