CS 112 Programming 2

Lecture 10
Abstract Classes & Interfaces (1)

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Chapter 13 Abstract Classes and Interfaces

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 Motivations
 We have learned how to write simple programs to create and
display GUI components. Can we write the code to respond
to user actions, such as clicking a button to perform an
action?

 In order to write such code, we 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 & Abstract Methods
 An abstract class is a class that is declared abstract

 Abstract classes cannot be instantiated, but they can be subclassed

 Abstract methods are declared when their implementations are

dependent on the subclasses where they are invoked, e.g.
getArea() in GeometricObject

 Abstract methods are non-static methods that are declared without

implementations (without {}, but followed by a ;):
public abstract class Account {
// declare data fields
// declare concrete methods
abstract void check(double balance);
}
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Abstract Classes & Abstract Methods

GeometricObject

Circle

Rectangle

TestGeometricObject
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Abstract Classes & Abstract Methods
 In a concrete subclass extended from an abstract class, all the
abstract methods must be implemented, even if they are not used
in the subclass

 If a subclass of an abstract superclass does not implement all the

abstract methods, the subclass must be defined abstract

 An abstract class may contain just concrete methods, or just

abstract methods, or both or none!

 A concrete class cannot contain abstract methods

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 Abstract Classes
 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

 We cannot create an instance from an abstract class using the new

operator, but:
˗ We can include constructors (to be used by subclasses) in an
abstract class
˗ An abstract class can be used as a data type. For example, the
following statement, which creates an array whose elements are of
abstract class GeometricObject type, is correct
GeometricObject[] geo = new GeometricObject[10];

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Case Study: Abstract Number Class

LargestNumbers Run

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Abstract Calendar Class & its Concrete
GregorianCalendar Subclass

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Abstract Calendar Class & its Concrete
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 Concrete Class
 We can use new GregorianCalendar() to construct a
default GregorianCalendar object with the current time

 We can also use new GregorianCalendar(year,

month, date) to construct a GregorianCalendar
object with the specified year, month, and date

 The month parameter is 0-based, i.e., 0 is for January

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 get() in Calendar Class
get(int field) is used to extract detailed information
from Calendar objects. The possible fields are:

TestCalendar

Run

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 Interfaces
 The Apple & Chicken classes are based on different
superclasses, but both share a common behavior: both
are edible! We can model this common behavior using
an interface

 Interfaces can be used to specify common behavior for

objects of unrelated classes as well as related classes

 Abstract classes model the common behavior of related

classes only

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interface & class Similarities
 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, we cannot create an instance

from an interface using the new operator, but in most
cases we can use an interface more or less the same
way we use an abstract class
˗ For example, we can use an interface as a data type and cast
a variable of an interface type to its subclass, and vice versa

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Defining an interface
An interface is a class-like construct that
contains only constants and abstract methods

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 inheritance
We can use the Edible interface to specify whether an object is edible.
This is accomplished by letting the class for the object implement this
interface (or inherit the interface) using the implements keyword
Example: Chicken & Fruit implement the Edible interface in
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:

public interface T1 { public interface T1 {

public static final int K = 1; Equivalent int K = 1;

public abstract void p(); void p();

} }

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 defines compareTo() for comparing objects

compareTo() determines the order of this object with the

specified object o and returns a negative integer, zero, or a
positive integer if this object is less than, equal to, or greater than
o

package java.lang;

public interface Comparable<E> {

public int compareTo(E o);
}

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compareTo() in Integer, BigInteger, String & Date
All numeric wrapper classes, Character and String implement
Comparable, thus compareTo() is implemented in all of them
public class Integer extends Number public class BigInteger extends Number
implements Comparable<Integer> { implements Comparable<BigInteger> {
// class body omitted // class body omitted

@Override @Override
public int compareTo(Integer o) { public int compareTo(BigInteger o) {
// Implementation omitted // Implementation omitted
} }
} }

public class String extends Object public class Date extends Object
implements Comparable<String> { implements Comparable<Date> {
// class body omitted // class body omitted

@Override @Override
public int compareTo(String o) { public int compareTo(Date o) {
// Implementation omitted // Implementation omitted
} }
} }

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

Displays

-1
-2
1

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 The Comparable Interface
Let n be an Integer object, s be a String object and d be
a Date object. Then, all the following expressions are true

n instanceof Integer
n instanceof Object
 
n instanceof Comparable
s instanceof String
s instanceof Object
 
s instanceof Comparable
d instanceof java.util.Date
d instanceof Object
 
d instanceof Comparable
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CS 112 Programming 2

Lecture 11
Abstract Classes & Interfaces (2)

Liang, Introduction to Java Programming, Tenth Edition, (c) 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. All
rights reserved.
 First Midterm Exam
• Monday, 29 February (same time as the lecture)

• 75 minute duration

• Will cover all lectures delivered before the exam date

• Will consist of MCQ’s, fill-in-the-blanks, questions with short

answers, programming tasks, and drawing of diagrams

• If you miss this exam for any reason, you will have to appear
for a makeup exam on the Thursday of the last week of
teaching (5 May). That exam will cover all lectures delivered
in the semester. It will consist of programming tasks, drawing
of diagrams and answering questions having 0.5-1 page
answers
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 Generic sort()

java.util.Arrays.sort(array) requires
that the elements in an array implement the
Comparable<E> interface

SortComparableObjects Run

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Defining Classes to Implement Comparable
 We cannot use sort() to sort an array of Rectangle objects,
because Rectangle does not implement Comparable
 However, we can define a new rectangle class that implements
Comparable. The instances of this new class are comparable

ComparableRectangle SortRectangles Run

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 The Cloneable Interface
 The Cloneable interface specifies that an object can be cloned

 A class that implements the Cloneable interface is marked

cloneable, and its objects can be cloned using clone() defined
in the Object class. clone() returns the copy of an object

package java.lang;
public interface Cloneable {
}

Cloneable is a 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

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 Example: Cloneable
Several classes (e.g., Date, Calendar and ArrayList) 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 clone() in Object

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();

If object A is copied
as object B then if any
properties of A are a
reference to a
memory location, at
the end of copying the
two objects will be
using the same
reference. The default
clone() makes a
shallow copy
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 Shallow vs. Deep Copy
House house1 = new House(1, 1750.50);
House house2 = (House)house1.clone();

Instead of references,
if the actual values
are copied to a new
object then that will
be a deep copy. This
way the two objects
are completely
independent. To make
a deep copy, we need
to override the default
clone()
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 Interfaces vs. Abstract Classes
Variables Constructors Methods
Constructors are invoked
by subclasses through
No restrictions
Abstract No constructor chaining. An
(abstract methods
class restrictions abstract class cannot be
can’t be static)
instantiated using the new
operator
Must be No constructors. An Must be public
public interface cannot be abstract
Interface static
instantiated using the new (abstract methods
final operator can’t be static)

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 Interfaces
 All classes share a single root (Object). There is no single root for interfaces
 A variable of an interface type can reference any instance of the class that
implements that interface
 Sub-interfaces: public interface infB extends infA {…}

If 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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 The Rational Class

Rational TestRationalClass Run

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Class Design Guidelines: Coherence
 A class should describe a single entity, and all the class operations
should logically fit together to support a coherent purpose
– We can use a class for students, for example, but we should not
combine students and staff in the same class, because students and
staff are different entities

 A single entity with many responsibilities should be broken into

several classes to separate the responsibilities
– The classes String, StringBuilder, and StringBuffer all deal
with strings, for example, but have different responsibilities:
 String deals with immutable strings
 StringBuilder deals with mutable strings
 StringBuffer is similar to StringBuilder except that it contains
synchronized methods that are required for threaded applications

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Class Design Guidelines: Consistency
 Follow standard Java programming style and naming conventions
– Choose informative names for classes, data fields, and methods
– Place the data declaration before the constructor and place
constructors before methods
– Make the names consistent. For example, length() returns the size
of a String, StringBuilder, or StringBuffer. It would not be
consistent if different names were used for this method in these classes

 Provide a public no-arg constructor for constructing an instance

– If a class does not support a no-arg constructor, document the reason
– If no constructors are defined explicitly, a public no-arg constructor
with an empty body is assumed

 Override equals(), hashCode() and toString() defined in

the Object class whenever possible
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 Class Design Guidelines:
Encapsulation
 A class should use the private modifier to hide its data from
direct access by clients. This makes the class easy to maintain

 Provide accessors and mutators only if necessary

– Example: The Rational class provides accessors for numerator
and denominator, but no mutators, because a Rational object is
immutable

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 Class Design Guidelines: Clarity
Cohesion, consistency, & encapsulation improve class clarity. A class
should also have a clear contract that is easy to explain & understand
 Users should be able to use classes in many different combinations,
orders, and environments. Therefore, design a class that
– imposes no restrictions on how or when the user can use it
– allows the user to set properties in any order and with any
combination of values
– executes methods correctly independent of their order of occurrence
 Methods should be defined intuitively without causing confusion
– Example: It is more intuitive to return a substring from beginIndex
to endIndex, instead of beginIndex to endIndex-1)
 Do not declare a data field that can be derived from other data
fields (e.g. no need to store both birthdate and age)
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Class Design Guidelines: Completeness
Classes are designed for use by many different customers. In
order to be useful in a wide range of applications, a class should
provide a variety of ways for customization through properties
and methods

Example: The String class contains more than 40 methods that

are useful for a variety of applications

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Class Design Guidelines: Instance vs. static
 A variable or method that is dependent on a specific instance of the
class must be an instance variable or method
 A variable that is shared by all the instances of a class should be
declared static
 A method that is not dependent on a specific instance should be
defined as a static method
 Always reference static variables and methods from a class
name to improve readability and avoid errors
 A static variable or method can be invoked from an instance
method, but an instance variable or method cannot be invoked from
a static method

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Class Design Guidelines: Inheritance vs. Aggregation

The difference between inheritance and aggregation is the

difference between an is-a and a has-a relationship
– An apple is a fruit; thus, we would use inheritance to model the
relationship between the classes Apple and Fruit

– A person has a name; thus, we would use aggregation to model

the relationship between the classes Person and Name

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Class Design Guidelines: Interfaces vs. Abstract Classes
 Both can be used to specify common behavior. In general, a strong
is-a relationship that clearly describes a parent-child relationship
should be modeled using classes, e.g. orange is a fruit
 A weak is-a (or is-kind-of ) relationship, indicates that an object
possesses a certain property. A weak is-a relationship can be
modeled using interfaces, e.g. all strings are comparable, so the
String class implements the Comparable interface
 A circle or a rectangle is a geometric object, so Circle can be
designed as a subclass of GeometricObject. Circles are different
and comparable based on their radii, so Circle can implement the
Comparable interface
 A subclass can extend only one superclass but can implement any
number of interfaces
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Class Design Guidelines: Visibility Modifiers
 Each class can present two contracts – one for the users of the
class and one for the extenders of the class

 The contract for the extenders includes the contract for the users

 Make the fields private and accessor methods public if they

are intended for the users of the class

 Make the fields or methods protected if they are intended for

extenders of the class

 The extended class may increase the visibility of an instance

method from protected to public, or change its
implementation, but we should never change the implementation
in a way that violates the contract
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