Inheritance

(Key reference: Sec1on 8.2 of the textbook)

G. Ayorkor Korsah, Ashesi University College, Programming II - First Semester 2011

Consider a Person Class

(See Person.java)

G. Ayorkor Korsah, Ashesi University College, Programming II - First Semester 2011

What is the output of this program?

Program: (See TestPerson.java)

Output:

G. Ayorkor Korsah, Ashesi University College, Programming II - First Semester 2011

Now, consider a Student class

(See Student.java)

A student is a person We can create a Student class by inheri1ng from or extending the Person class In object-oriented programming, inheritance is used to model is-a rela1onships

G. Ayorkor Korsah, Ashesi University College, Programming II - First Semester 2011

Student Class Lis1ng

The constructor of the Student class calls the constructor of its parent class (Person) using the keyword super The Student class overrides the printInfo() method of its parent class The implementa1on of the printInfo() method in the Student class calls the printInfo() method in the parent class

G. Ayorkor Korsah, Ashesi University College, Programming II - First Semester 2011

Inheritance Terminology
Java-specic terminology
The Student class extends the Person class

Language-independent terminology
The Student class inherits from the Person class The Person class is the base class / super class / parent class / ancestor , while the Student class is the derived class / subclass / descendant

G. Ayorkor Korsah, Ashesi University College, Programming II - First Semester 2011

What is the output of this program?

(See TestStudent.java) Program:
The variable ko is a reference to a Student object so the main() method calls/invokes the printInfo() method of the Student class. The printInfo() method of the Student class in turn calls the printInfo() method of its parent class (Person) The printInfo() method of Person prints the name and the age The printInfo() method of Student then prints the gradua1on year and student id

Output:

G. Ayorkor Korsah, Ashesi University College, Programming II - First Semester 2011

How about this program?

Program:

(See TestStudent2.java)

Output:

Although the variable ko is a Person reference, it actually points/refers to a Student object. This is valid because Student is a derived class of Person. The run1me engine is able to gure out that the printInfo() method being invoked is that of the Student class (since the variable points to a student object). This is called late binding in Java The printInfo() method of the Student class in turn calls the printInfo() method of its parent class (Person) The printInfo() method of Person prints the name and the age The printInfo() method of Student then prints the gradua1on year and student id.
G. Ayorkor Korsah, Ashesi University College, Programming II - First Semester 2011 8

Consider a Worker class

(See Worker.java)

Just like how we can say a Student is a Person, we can also say a Worker is a Person
G. Ayorkor Korsah, Ashesi University College, Programming II - First Semester 2011 9

What is the output of this Program?

Program:

(See TestPerson2.java)

Note that if we have a variable whose type is a Person reference (like the elements of this array), then we can assign to it not only instances of the Person class, but also instances of any class that extends the Person class (e.g. instances of the Student & Worker classes)

G. Ayorkor Korsah, Ashesi University College, Programming II - First Semester 2011

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Output of the Program

Program: Late binding ensures that the correct version of the printInfo() method is used Output: in each case

G. Ayorkor Korsah, Ashesi University College, Programming II - First Semester 2011

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