Modern Programming Tools And

Techniques-I
Inheritance


By
Arvind Kumar
Asst. Professor, LPU
Inheritance
Inheritance allows us to use one class by another class.

A class that is derived from another class is called
a subclass (also a derived class, extended class, or child class).

The class from which the subclass is derived is called
a superclass (also a base class or a parent class).

Classes can be derived from classes that are derived from
classes that are derived from classes, and so on, and ultimately
derived from the topmost class called Object.
Excepting Object, which has no superclass, every class has
one and only one direct superclass (single inheritance). In the
absence of any other explicit superclass, every class is
implicitly a subclass of Object.

A subclass inherits all the members (fields, methods, and
nested classes) from its superclass. Constructors are not
members, so they are not inherited by subclasses, but the
constructor of the superclass can be invoked from the subclass.

A class can inherits only one superclass at a time. But a class
can have several sub classes.
Simple Inheritance
When a subclass is derived simply from it's parent
class then this mechanism is known as simple
inheritance.

In case of simple inheritance there is only a sub class
and it's parent class. It is also called single inheritance
or one level inheritance.

A subclass includes all of the members of its superclass, it
cannot access those members of the superclass that have been
declared as private.

To inherit a class, you simply incorporate the definition of one
class into another by using the extends keyword.

Syntax:
class sub_class_name extends super_class
{
//body of the sub class.
}
class A
{ int i, j;
void showij()
{
System.out.println("i and j: " + i + " " + j);
} }
class B extends A
{int k;
void showk()
{ System.out.println("k: " + k); }
void sum()
{ System.out.println("i+j+k: " + (i+j+k)); }
public static void main(String args[])
{B r=new B();
r.sum();
}
}
Multilevel Inheritance
It is the enhancement of the concept of inheritance. When a
subclass is derived from a derived class then this mechanism is
known as the multilevel inheritance.

The derived class is called the subclass or child class for it's
parent class and this parent class works as the child class for
it's just above (parent) class.

Multilevel inheritance can go up to any number of level.

class A
{ int x; int y;
int get(int p, int q){ x=p; y=q; return(0); }
void Show(){ System.out.println(x); }
}
class B extends A
{ void Showb(){ System.out.println("B"); }
}
class C extends B
{ void display(){ System.out.println("C"); }
public static void main(String args[])
{ B a = new B();
a.get(5,6);
a.Show();
}}
Multiple Inheritance
The mechanism of inheriting the features of more than one
base class into a single class is known as multiple inheritance.

Java does not support multiple inheritance but the multiple
inheritance can be achieved by using the interface.

In Java Multiple Inheritance can be achieved through use of
Interfaces by implementing more than one interfaces in a class.

Method Overloading
Method overloading means having two or more methods with
the same name but different signatures in the same scope.

It allows creating several methods with the same name which
differ from each other in the type of the input and the output of
the method.

It is simply defined as the ability of one method to perform
different tasks.
Example
class Area11
{
void area(int a)
{
int area = a*a;
System.out.println("area of square is:" + area);
}
void area (int a, int b)
{
int area = a*b;
System.out.println("area of rectangle is:" + area);
}
}
class OverloadDemo
{
public static void main (String arr[])
{
Area11 ar= new Area11();
ar.area(10);
ar.area(10,5);
}
}

Method Overriding
Method overriding means having a different implementation
of the same method in the inherited class.

These two methods would have the same signature, but
different implementation.

One of these would exist in the base class and another in the
derived class. These cannot exist in the same class.
The version of a method that is executed will be
determined by the object that is used to invoke it.

If an object of a parent class is used to invoke the
method, then the version in the parent class will be
executed.

If an object of the subclass is used to invoke the
method, then the version in the child class will be
executed.

class Superclass
{ public void printMethod()
{
System.out.println("Printed in Superclass.");
}
}
class Subclass extends Superclass
{ // overrides printMethod in Superclass
public void printMethod()
{
System.out.println("Printed in Subclass");
}
public static void main(String[] args)
{ Subclass s = new Subclass();
s.printMethod();
}}

output
Printed in Subclass

Within a class, a field that has the same name as a field in the
superclass hides the superclass's field, even if their types are
different. Within the subclass, the field in the superclass cannot
be referenced by its simple name.
class Override
{
public void display()
{
System.out.println("Hello...This is superclass display");
}
}

class Override1 extends Override
{
public void display()
{
System.out.println("Hi...This is overriden method in
subclass");
}
}
class OverrideDemo
{
public static void main(String arr[])
{
Override o = new Override();
o.display();
Override1 o1 = new Override1();
o1.display();
}
}
Dynamic Method Dispatch

Dynamic method dispatch is the mechanism by which
a call to an overridden method is resolved at run time,
rather than compile time.

Dynamic method dispatch is important because this is
how Java implements run-time polymorphism.

class A {
void callme() {
System.out.println("Inside A's callme method");
}
}


class B extends A {
void callme() {
System.out.println("Inside B's callme method");
}
}


class C extends A {
void callme() {
System.out.println("Inside C's callme method");
}
}
class Dispatch {
public static void main(String args[]) {
A a = new A(); // object of type A
B b = new B(); // object of type B
C c = new C(); // object of type C
A r; // obtain a reference of type A

r = a; // r refers to an A object
r.callme(); // calls A's version of callme

r = b; // r refers to a B object
r.callme(); // calls B's version of callme

r = c; // r refers to a C object
r.callme(); // calls C's version of callme
}
}

Accessing Superclass Members
If your method overrides one of its superclass's
methods, you can invoke the overridden method
through the use of the keyword super.
class Superclass
{ public void printMethod()
{
System.out.println("Printed in Superclass.");
}
}
class Subclass extends Superclass
{ // overrides printMethod in Superclass
public void printMethod()
{
super.printMethod();
System.out.println("Printed in Subclass");
}
public static void main(String[] args)
{ Subclass s = new Subclass();
s.printMethod();
}}
Using super
A subclass can call a constructor defined by its
superclass by use of the following form of super:
super(arg-list);

Here, arg-list specifies any arguments needed by the
constructor in the superclass.

super( ) must always be the first statement executed
inside a subclass constructor.
class Superclass
{ Superclass()
{
System.out.println("Printed in Superclass.");
}
}
class Subclass extends Superclass
{ // overrides printMethod in Superclass
Subclass()
{
super();
System.out.println("Printed in Subclass");
}
public static void main(String[] args)
{ Subclass s = new Subclass();
}}
Private Members in a Superclass
A subclass does not inherit the private members of its parent
class. However, if the superclass has public or protected
methods for accessing its private fields, these can also be used
by the subclass.

If subclass overrides public method of superclass,
specify call to public method of superclass:
super.MethodName(parameter list)
If subclass does not override public method of
superclass, specify call to public method of superclass:
MethodName(parameter list)

Final Classes
You can declare some or all of a class's methods final. You use
the final keyword in a method declaration to indicate that the
method cannot be overridden by subclasses.
A final class cannot be subclassed. This is done for reasons of
security and efficiency. Accordingly, many of the Java
standard library classes are final.
A final class implicitly has all the methods as final, but not
necessarily the data members.
The Object class does thisa number of its methods are final.
Syntax:
public final class MyFinalClass {...}
public final class FinalClass
{
Void meth()
{
System.out.println("Printed in FinalClass.");
}
}
public class SubClass extends FinalClass
{
public static void main(String[] args)
{
System.out.println("Printed in SubClass.");
}
}

Final Methods
A final method can't be overridden by subclasses.
This is used to prevent unexpected behavior from a
subclass altering a method that may be crucial to the
function or consistency of the class.
Example
public class MyClass
{
public final void myFinalMethod() {...}
}
Abstract Methods
A method that has only the heading with no
body.
Must be declared abstract.

public abstract void print();
public abstract object larger(object, object);
abstract void insert(int insertItem);
Abstract Classes
A class that is declared with the reserved word abstract in
its heading.
An abstract class can contain instance variables,
constructors, finalizers, and non-abstract methods.
An abstract class can contain abstract methods.
If a class contains an abstract method, the class must be
declared abstract.
You can instantiate an object of a subclass of an abstract
class, but only if the subclass gives the definitions of all
the abstract methods of the superclass.
Abstract Class Example
public abstract class AbstractClassExample
{
protected int x;
public abstract void print();

public void setX(int a)
{
x = a;
}

public AbstractClassExample()
{
x = 0;
}
}

abstract class Shape{
public static float pi = 3.142f; protected float height; protected float
width; abstract float area() ;}
class Square extends Shape{
Square(float h, float w){height = h; width = w;}
final float area(){return height * width;}}
class FinalMethodDemo
{
public static void main(String args[])
{
Square sObj = new Square(5,5);

System.out.println("Area of square : " + sObj.area());
}
}
class A
{void get()
{ System.out.println("A"); }}
class B extends A
{
void get()
{ System.out.println("B"); }}
class C
{public static void main(String ar[])
{A obj= new B();
obj.get();
}}
Output?