AN INTRODUCTION TO

INHERITANCE

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 In your group
• Define 5 attributes that you would use to
describe persons.
• Define 3 different attributes that can describe
students but not persons.
• Are there any attributes that define persons but
not students? (In other words is there anything
that is true of persons that is not true of students
as well.)

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 Exploring “is-a”
• A student “is-a” person.
• Are all persons students?
• A CS student “is-a” student.
• Does that make CS students persons too?

• How does one differentiate student from

person?

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 What is Inheritance?
Generalization vs. Specialization

• Real-life objects are typically specialized versions of

other more general objects.
• The term “insect” describes a very general type of
creature with numerous characteristics.
• Grasshoppers and bumblebees are insects
– They share the general characteristics of an insect.
– However, they have special characteristics of their own.
• grasshoppers have a jumping ability, and
• bumblebees have a stinger.
• Grasshoppers and bumblebees are specialized versions
of an insect.

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 Inheritance

Insect
Contains those attributes
and methods that are
shared by all insects.

BumbleBee Grasshopper

Contains those attributes and Contains those attributes and

methods that specific to a methods that are specific to a
Bumble Bee. Grasshopper.

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 The “is a” Relationship
• The relationship between a superclass and an inherited
class is called an “is a” relationship.
– A grasshopper “is a” insect.
– A poodle “is a” dog.
– A car “is a” vehicle.
• A specialized object has:
– all of the characteristics of the general object, plus
– additional characteristics that make it special.
• In object-oriented programming, inheritance is used to
create an “is a” relationship among classes.

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 The “is a” Relationship
• We can extend the capabilities of a class.
• Inheritance involves a superclass and a subclass.
– The superclass is the general class and
– the subclass is the specialized class.
• The subclass is based on, or extended from, the superclass.
– Superclasses are also called base classes, and
– subclasses are also called derived classes.
• The relationship of classes can be thought of as parent classes
and child classes.

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 Inheritance
• The subclass inherits fields and methods from the
superclass without any of them being rewritten.
• New fields and methods may be added to the subclass.
• The Java keyword, extends, is used on the class header
to define the subclass.

public class FinalExam extends GradedActivity

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 The GradedActivity Example
GradedActivity
Contains those attributes and methods
- score : double that are shared by all graded activities.

+ setScore(s : double) : void Contains those attributes and methods

+ getScore() : double that are specific to the FinalExam
+ getGrade() : char class.
Inherits all non-private attributes and
methods from the GradedActivity
class.
FinaExam
- numQuestions : int • Example:
- pointsEach : double
- numMissed : int – GradedActivity.java,
+ FinalExam(questions : int, – GradeDemo.java,
missed : int) – FinalExam.java,
+ getPointsEach() : double
+ getNumMissed() : int – FinalExamDemo.java
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 Inheritance, Fields and Methods
• Members of the superclass that are marked private:
– are not inherited by the subclass,
– exist in memory when the object of the subclass is created
– may only be accessed from the subclass by public methods
of the superclass.
• Members of the superclass that are marked public:
– are inherited by the subclass, and
– may be directly accessed from the subclass.

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 Inheritance, Fields and Methods
• When an instance of the subclass is created, the non-private
methods of the superclass are available through the subclass
object.

FinalExam exam = new FinalExam();

exam.setScore(85.0);
System.out.println("Score = "
+ exam.getScore());

• Non-private methods and fields of the superclass are available in

the subclass.

setScore(newScore);
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 Inheritance and Constructors
• Constructors are not inherited.
• When a subclass is instantiated, the superclass default
constructor is executed first.
• Example:
– SuperClass1.java
– SubClass1.java
– ConstructorDemo1.java

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 The Superclass’s Constructor
• The super keyword refers to an object’s superclass.
• The superclass constructor can be explicitly called
from the subclass by using the super keyword.
• Example:
– SuperClass2.java, SubClass2.java, ConstructorDemo2.java
– Rectangle.java, Cube.java, CubeDemo.java

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 Calling The Superclass Constructor
• If a parameterized constructor is defined in the
superclass,
– the superclass must provide a no-arg constructor, or
• subclasses must provide a constructor, and
• subclasses must call a superclass constructor.
• Calls to a superclass constructor must be the first
java statement in the subclass constructors.

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 Overriding Superclass Methods
• A subclass may have a method with the same
signature as a superclass method.
• The subclass method overrides the superclass
method.
• This is known as method overriding.
• Example:
– GradedActivity.java, CurvedActivity.java,
CurvedActivityDemo.java

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 Overriding Superclass Methods
GradedActivity
- score : double
+ setScore(s : double) : void
+ getScore() : double
+ getGrade() : char

This method is a more specialized

version of the setScore method in
CurvedActivity
the superclass, GradedActivity.
- rawScore : double
- percentage : double
+ CurvedActivity
(percent : double)
+ setScore(s : double) : void
+ getRawScore() : double
+ getPercentage() : double

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 Overriding Superclass Methods
• Recall that a method’s signature consists of:
– the method’s name
– the data types method’s parameters in the order that they
appear.
• A subclass method that overrides a superclass method
must have the same signature as the superclass
method.
• An object of the subclass invokes the subclass’s
version of the method, not the superclass’s.

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 Overriding Superclass Methods
• An subclass method can call the overridden superclass method
via the super keyword.

super.setScore(rawScore * percentage);

• There is a distinction between overloading a method and

overriding a method.
• Overloading is when a method has the same name as one or
more other methods, but with a different signature.
• When a method overrides another method, however, they both
have the same signature.

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 Overriding Superclass Methods
• Both overloading and overriding can take place in an
inheritance relationship.
• Overriding can only take place in an inheritance
relationship.
• Example:
– SuperClass3.java,
– SubClass3.java,
– ShowValueDemo.java 2/21

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 Preventing a Method from Being
Overridden
• The final modifier will prevent the overriding of a
superclass method in a subclass.

public final void message()

• If a subclass attempts to override a final method, the

compiler generates an error.
• This ensures that a particular superclass method is used
by subclasses rather than a modified version of it.

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 Visibility Revisited
• Private/Public

• UML - = private, + = public

• Block visibility
• Static/nonStatic

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 Protected Members
• Protected members of class:
– may be accessed by methods in a subclass, and
– by methods in the same package as the class.
• Java provides a third access specification, protected.
• A protected member’s access is somewhere between
private and public.
• UML = #
• Example:
– GradedActivity2.java
– FinalExam2.java
– ProtectedDemo.java

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 Protected Members
• Using protected instead of private makes some tasks
easier.
• However, any class that is derived from the class, or is in the
same package, has unrestricted access to the protected
member.
• It is always better to make all fields private and then
provide public methods for accessing those fields.
• If no access specifier for a class member is provided, the class
member is given package access by default.
• Any method in the same package may access the member.

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 Access Specifiers
Accessible to a subclass inside Accessible to all other classes
Access Modifier
the same package? inside the same package?
default
Yes Yes
(no modifier)
Public Yes Yes
Protected Yes Yes
Private No No

Accessible to a subclass Accessible to all other classes

Access Modifier
outside the package? outside the package?
default
No No
(no modifier)
Public Yes Yes
Protected Yes No
Private No No

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 Chains of Inheritance

• A superclass can also be derived from another

class. Object

Example:
GradedActivity.java
GradedActivity
PassFailActivity.java
PassFailExam.java
PassFailExamDemo.java
PassFailActivity

PassFailExam

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 Chains of Inheritance
• Classes often are depicted graphically in a class
hierarchy.
• A class hierarchy shows the inheritance
relationships between classes.

GradedActivity

FinalExam PassFailActivity

PassFailExam

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 The Object Class
• All Java classes are directly or indirectly derived from a class
named Object.
• Object is in the java.lang package.
• Any class that does not specify the extends keyword is
automatically derived from the Object class.

public class MyClass

{
// This class is derived from Object.
}

• Ultimately, every class is derived from the Object class.

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 The Object Class
• Because every class is directly or indirectly derived
from the Object class:
– every class inherits the Object class’s members.
• example: toString and equals.
• In the Object class, the toString method returns a
string containing the object’s class name and a hash of
its memory address.
• The equals method accepts the address of an object
as its argument and returns true if it is the same as the
calling object’s address.
• Example: ObjectMethods.java

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 Lets look again at Exception classes
• http://java.sun.com/javase/6/docs/api/java/
lang/Exception.html

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 Poly – many
morph – form ism
• A reference variable can reference objects of classes that are
derived from the variable’s class.
GradedActivity exam;

• We can use the exam variable to reference a GradedActivity

object.
exam = new GradedActivity();

• The GradedActivity class is also used as the superclass for

the FinalExam class.
• An object of the FinalExam class is a GradedActivity
object.
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 Polymorphism
• A GradedActivity variable can be used to reference a
FinalExam object.
GradedActivity exam = new FinalExam(50, 7);

• This statement creates a FinalExam object and stores the

object’s address in the exam variable.
• This is an example of polymorphism.
• The term polymorphism means the ability to take many forms.
• In Java, a reference variable is polymorphic because it can
reference objects of types different from its own, as long as those
types are subclasses of its type.

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 Polymorphism
• Other legal polymorphic references:
GradedActivity exam1 = new FinalExam(50, 7);
GradedActivity exam2 = new PassFailActivity(70);
GradedActivity exam3 = new PassFailExam(100, 10, 70);

• The GradedActivity class has three methods:

setScore, getScore, and getGrade.
• A GradedActivity variable can be used to call only those
three methods.
GradedActivity exam = new PassFailExam(100, 10, 70);
System.out.println(exam.getScore()); // This works.
System.out.println(exam.getGrade()); // This works.
System.out.println(exam.getPointsEach()); // ERROR!

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 Polymorphism and Dynamic Binding
• If the object of the subclass has overridden a method in the
superclass:
– If the variable makes a call to that method the subclass’s version of the
method will be run.
GradedActivity exam = new PassFailActivity(60);
exam.setScore(70);
System.out.println(exam.getGrade());

• Java performs dynamic binding or late binding when a variable contains a

polymorphic reference.
• The Java Virtual Machine determines at runtime which method to call,
depending on the type of object that the variable references.

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 Polymorphism
• It is the object’s type, rather than the reference type,
that determines which method is called.
• Example:
– Polymorphic.java
• You cannot assign a superclass object to a subclass
reference variable.

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 Abstract Classes
• An abstract class cannot be instantiated, but other classes are
derived from it.
• An Abstract class serves as a superclass for other classes.
• The abstract class represents the generic or abstract form of all
the classes that are derived from it.
• A class becomes abstract when you place the abstract key word
in the class definition.

public abstract class ClassName

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 Abstract Methods
• An abstract method has no body and must be
overridden in a subclass.
• An abstract method is a method that appears in a
superclass, but expects to be overridden in a subclass.
• An abstract method has only a header and no body.
AccessSpecifier abstract ReturnType MethodName(ParameterList);
• Example:
– Student.java, CompSciStudent.java, CompSciStudentDemo.java

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 Abstract Methods
• Notice that the key word abstract appears in the header, and
that the header ends with a semicolon.

public abstract void setValue(int value);

• Any class that contains an abstract method is automatically

abstract.
• If a subclass fails to override an abstract method, a compiler
error will result.
• Abstract methods are used to ensure that a subclass implements
the method.
02/28
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 Interfaces
• An interface is similar to an abstract class that has all
abstract methods.
– It cannot be instantiated, and
– all of the methods listed in an interface must be written elsewhere.
• The purpose of an interface is to specify behavior for other
classes.
• An interface looks similar to a class, except:
– the keyword interface is used instead of the keyword class,
and
– the methods that are specified in an interface have no bodies, only
headers that are terminated by semicolons.

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 Interfaces
• The general format of an interface definition:

public interface InterfaceName

{
(Method headers...)
}

• All methods specified by an interface are public by default.

• A class can implement one or more interfaces.

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 Interfaces
• If a class implements an interface, it uses the
implements keyword in the class header.

public class FinalExam3 extends GradedActivity

implements Relatable

• Example:
– GradedActivity.java
– Relatable.java
– FinalExam3.java
– InterfaceDemo.java

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 Fields in Interfaces
• An interface can contain field declarations:
– all fields in an interface are treated as final and static.
• Because they automatically become final, you must provide an
initialization value.
public interface Doable
{
int FIELD1 = 1, FIELD2 = 2;
(Method headers...)
}
• In this interface, FIELD1 and FIELD2 are final static
int variables.
• Any class that implements this interface has access to these
variables.

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 Implementing Multiple Interfaces
• A class can be derived from only one superclass.
• Java allows a class to implement multiple interfaces.
• When a class implements multiple interfaces, it must provide
the methods specified by all of them.
• To specify multiple interfaces in a class definition, simply list
the names of the interfaces, separated by commas, after the
implements key word.

public class MyClass implements Interface1,

Interface2,
Interface3

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 Interfaces in UML

A dashed line with an arrow

GradedActivity indicates implementation of an
interface.

FinalExam3 Relatable

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 Polymorphism with Interfaces
• Java allows you to create reference variables of an interface
type.
• An interface reference variable can reference any object
that implements that interface, regardless of its class type.
• This is another example of polymorphism.
• Example:
– RetailItem.java
– CompactDisc.java
– DvdMovie.java
– PolymorphicInterfaceDemo.java

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 Polymorphism with Interfaces
• In the example code, two RetailItem reference variables,
item1 and item2, are declared.
• The item1 variable references a CompactDisc object and
the item2 variable references a DvdMovie object.
• When a class implements an interface, an inheritance
relationship known as interface inheritance is established.
– a CompactDisc object is a RetailItem, and
– a DvdMovie object is a RetailItem.

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 Polymorphism with Interfaces
• A reference to an interface can point to any class that
implements that interface.
• You cannot create an instance of an interface.

RetailItem item = new RetailItem(); // ERROR!

• When an interface variable references an object:

– only the methods declared in the interface are available,
– explicit type casting is required to access the other methods of an object
referenced by an interface reference.

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