An Introduction to Specialization/Generalization and Inheritance

An Introduction to Specialization/Generalization and Inheritance
With Examples in Java

Prof. David Bernstein
James Madison University

Computer Science Department

bernstdh@jmu.edu

Motivation

A Question:
- What is the relationship between "dogs" and "animals"?
Some Answers:

Review

What is a class?
What is an object?

Review (cont.)

What is involved in designing and implementing a class?
What is involved in designing and implementing the attributes?
What is involved in designing and implementing the behaviors?

Subsets and Supersets

A Subset:
- Has additional characteristics
- Is a specialization
- Mathematical Notation: \(A \subset B\) denotes that \(A\) is a (proper) subset of \(B\)
A Superset:
- Ignores some characteristics
- Is a generalization
- Mathematical Notation: \(G \supset H\) denotes that \(G\) is a (proper) superset of \(H\)

Specialization/Generalization of Classes

The "is-a" relationship:
- An object of class A "is-an" object of class B if A is/does everything that B is/does and more
Other Terminology:
- Subclass/Superclass
- Child Class/Parent Class
- Derived Class/Base Class

Specialization of enums

Recall:
- A definition of a set that is written by listing the elements (i.e., an extensive definition of a set)
What Would a Specialization Be?
- A subset (i.e., a list of elements to omit from the parent)
The Implication:
- Java does not allow enums to be specialized (though the "is a" relationship can be achieved in other ways as discussed later)

Inheritance

A Loose Definition:
- Instances of the child class have the characteristics of the parent class without having to implement them
What Is/Isn't Inherited in Java?
- The subclass inherits the attributes of the superclass
- The subclass inherits the methods of the superclass
- The subclass does not inherit constructors from the superclass
Visibility/Accessibility:
- The subclass cannot directly access private members in the superclass
- The superclass can restrict access to descendants by declaring members to be protected

Specialization/Generalization in UML

Visibility:
- Protected accessibility/visibility is denoted using a #
Inherited Methods:
- Inherited methods are (typically) not explicitly listed in the subclass

Class Hierarchies

An Example

The Syntax of Specialization in Java

Declaring a Subclass:
- Use extends in the declaration of the class
Accessing Members in a Superclass from a Subclass:
- Use super as the left-side operand of the . operator to eliminate ambiguity (if needed)
Calling the Constructor in a Superclass from a Subclass:
- Call super() (which must be the first statement in a constructor of the subclass)

Specialization and Constructors in Java

Explicit Value Constructors in the Subclass:
- Should include a call to an appropriate constructor in the superclass
- If no version of super() is called explicitly, the default constructor in the superclass will be called (so, if there isn't one, the subclass won't compile)
Default Constructors in the Subclass:
- Should include a call to the default constructor in the superclass
- If no version of super() is called explicitly, the default constructor in the superclass will be called (so, if there isn't one, the subclass won't compile)

Common Uses of Specialization

Purpose:
- Add attributes
- Add behaviors
- Modify existing behavior
Situations:
- You only have the byte code (i.e., the .class file) for an existing class
- You have the source code (i.e., the .java file) for an existing class but don't want to change it
- You are designing classes "from scratch"

Adding Characteristics to an Existing Class

Existing Classes:
- Part of the Java API (e.g., DecimalFormat )
- Written by a "third party"
If only:
- it also had the following attributes
- it also had the following methods

Adding Characteristics to an Existing Class (cont.)

An Example

javaexamples/oopbasics/FieldFormat.java

Will It Compile and Why/Why Not?

javaexamples/oopbasics/FieldFormatWhatHappensAndWhy.java

Modifying Behavior of an Existing Class

Existing Classes:
- Part of the Java API (e.g., StringTokenizer )
- Written by a "third party"
If only:
- it did this instead
What Can the Subclass Do?
- Override methods in the superclass (i.e., include a method with the same signature but a different implementation)

Modifying Behavior of an Existing Class (cont.)

An Example

javaexamples/oopbasics/CaseInsensitiveStringTokenizer.java

Will It Compile and Why/Why Not?

javaexamples/oopbasics/CaseInsensitiveStringTokenizerWhatHappensAndWhy.java

Adding/Modifying Characteristics "From Scratch"

Situation:
- You are implementing all of the classes
- You have the source code
Why Use Specialization?
- The base class has already been thoroughly tested
- The derived class adds significant complexity that is not required by all objects

Adding Characteristics "From Scratch"

An Example

javaexamples/oopbasics/emergency1/EmergencyMessage.java

Adding Characteristics "From Scratch" (cont.)

An Example (cont.)

javaexamples/oopbasics/emergency1/Alert.java

Modifying Behavior "From Scratch"

An Example

javaexamples/oopbasics/im1/Chirp.java

Modifying Behavior "From Scratch" (cont.)

An Example (cont.)

javaexamples/oopbasics/im1/ExpandedChirp.java

Modifying Behavior "From Scratch" (cont.)

An Example (cont.)

javaexamples/oopbasics/im1/ChirpDriver.java

Shadowing

An Observation:
- It is possible to have an attribute in the derived class with the same type and name as an attribute in the base class (which is called shadowing)
Best Practice:
- Where possible, shadowing should be avoided because it is confusing
Shadowing Private Attributes:
- You may not always know the private attributes in the base class (especially if you don't have the source code for the base class)

Conventions when Overriding Methods

UML:
- Overridden methods are (typically) explicitly listed in the subclass
Java:
- Overridden methods are often annotated with @Override

One Common Mistake

The Situation:
- A method in the derived class needs to call the method it overrides in the base class
The Mistake:
- Forgetting to use super.
The Symptom:
- A stack overflow (i.e., the method in the derived class calls itself until it runs out of memory)

Another Common Mistake

The Situation:
- An assignment statement doesn't compile (and you think it should or, at least, really want it to)
A "Rookie" Mistake:
- Use a typecast
Why This Makes the Compiler Happy:
- The compiler believes the programmer

A Common Mistake (cont.)

Chirp c; ExpandedChirp e; c = new Chirp("TTFN"); e = (ExpandedChirp)c;

Why won't the last line compile without the type cast?
- A Chirp is not an ExpandedChirp and methods might be called on e that it doesn't have
Why will the last line compile as is?
- The compiler believes the programmer
What will happen at run-time?
- A ClassCastException will be thrown

Static Members

In a Base Class:
- Are attributes/methods of both the base class and any derived classes
When This Can Be Confusing:
- When you have multiple derived classes specialize the same base class (because they will "share" the same static members)

Preventing Specialization in Java

A Particular Method:
- A method that is declared to be final can't be overridden by a subclass
An Entire Class:
- A class that is declared to be final can't be specialized (i.e., a class that extends a final class will not compile)

Preventing Specialization in UML

A Particular Method:
- A common convention is to include {leaf} after the return type
An Entire Class:
- A common convention is to include {leaf} after the name

A Peculiarity of Specialization in Java

The Object Class:
- All classes that don't explicitly extend a class implicitly extend the Object class
Implication:
- All objects have clone(), equals() and toString() methods, though they don't always do what you want

A Java Detail we Skipped Earlier

Recall:
- Some exceptions are checked and some are unchecked
How To Distinguish:
- Unchecked Exceptions - Descendants of RuntimeException
- Checked Exceptions - All other descendants of Exception

Some Other Details we have "Danced Around"

Recall:
- In JUnit, assertEquals() works with int values, double values, objects, etc...
- The printf() method in the PrintWriter class is passed a format string and then a variable number of arguments of any type
How?
- assertEquals() is overloaded and one of the versions has Object parameters
- The parameters of printf() are String and Object...

There's Always More to Learn