Abstract Classes

Abstract Classes
 Java allows abstract classes
 use the modifier abstract on a class header to declare
an abstract class
abstract class Vehicle
{ … }
 An abstract class is a placeholder in a class
hierarchy that represents a generic concept

Vehicle

Car Boat Plane

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Abstract Class: Example
 An abstract class often contains abstract
methods, though it doesn’t have to
 Abstract methods consist of only methods declarations,
without any method body

public abstract class Vehicle

{
String name;

public String getName()

{ return name; } \\ method body

abstract public void move();

\\ no body!
}
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Abstract Classes
 An abstract class often contains abstract methods,
though it doesn’t have to
 Abstract methods consist of only methods declarations,
without any method body

 The non-abstract child of an abstract class must

override the abstract methods of the parent
 An abstract class cannot be instantiated
(why?)

 The use of abstract classes is a design decision; it

helps us establish common elements in a class that is
too general to instantiate
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Referencing Objects
Recap: Object References
 All interaction with an object occurs
through object reference variables

 An object reference variable holds the

reference (address, the location) of an
object
ChessPiece bishop1 = new ChessPiece();

bishop1

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Recap: Primitive Assignment
 The act of assignment takes a copy of a
value and stores it in a variable
 For primitive types:

num2 = num1;
Before After
num1 num2 num1 num2
5 12 5 5

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Recap: Reference Assignment
 For object references, the reference is
copied:
bishop2 = bishop1;
Before After

bishop1 bishop2 bishop1 bishop2

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Recap: Relationship Between
Objects and Object References
 Two or more references can refer to the
same object; these references are called
aliases of each other

 One object (and its data) can be accessed

using different references

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References and Inheritance
 An object reference can refer to an object
of its class, or to an object of any class
derived from it by inheritance
 For example, if the Holiday class is used to
derive a child class called Christmas, then a
Holiday reference could actually be used to
point to a Christmas object
Holiday
Holiday day;
day = new Holiday();
…
Christmas
day = new Christmas();
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References and Inheritance
 Assigning an object to an ancestor reference is
considered to be a widening conversion, and can be
performed by simple assignment
Holiday day = new Christmas();
 Assigning an ancestor object to a reference can also
be done, but it is considered to be a narrowing
conversion and must be done with a cast
Christmas c1 = new Christmas();
Holiday day = c1;
Christmas c2 = (Christmas) day;

 The widening conversion is the most useful

 for implementing polymorphism

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Referencing and Inheritance
Recap: References and Inheritance
 An object reference variable can refer to
any object instantiated from
 itsown class, or
 any class derived from it by inheritance

 For example,
Holiday Holiday day;
day = new Holiday();
…
Christmas day = new Christmas();
The assignment of an object of a
derived class to a reference
variable of the base class can be
considered as a widening
conversion 13
References and Inheritance
 Through a given type of reference variable,
we can invoke only the methods defined in
that type class Holiday
{
public void celebrate()
{…}
Holiday day; }
day = new Christmas(); class Christmas extends Holiday
{
public void celebrate()
{…}
public void listenToChristmasSongs()
{…}
}

Can we do the following statements:

day.celebrate();
day.listenToChristmasSongs();
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 References and Inheritance
 We can “promote” an object back to its
original type through an explicit narrowing
cast:

Holiday day = new Christmas();

day.celebrate();
…

Christmas c = (Christmas) day;

c.listenToChristmasSongs();

Question: which celebrate() will be invoked by the line:

day.celebrate();
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Polymorphism
What is Polymorphism?
 A polymorphic reference can refer to different
types of objects at different times
 In java every reference can be polymorphic except of
references to base types and final classes.

 It is the type of the object being referenced, not

the reference type, that determines which method
is invoked
 Polymorphic references are therefore resolved at run-
time, not during compilation; this is called dynamic binding

 Careful use of polymorphic references can lead to

elegant, robust software designs

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Polymorphism
 Polymorphism: A polymorphic reference v is declared as class C,
but unless C is final or base type, v can refer to an object of
class C or to an object of any class derived from C.
 A method call v.<method_name>(<args>) invokes a method of the
class of an object referred to by v (not necessarily C):
Ex2:
Ex1: void process(Holiday day)
Holiday day = { …
new Christmas(); day.celebrate();
day.celebrate(); … }
… Christmas day = ...;
process(day)
 A very common usage of polymorphism: If classes C1, C2, ....,
Cn are all derived from C, define an array A of elements of C.
The entries A[i] can then refer to objects of classes C1, ...., Cn.
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 The pay-roll of a firm
Staff StaffMember
# name : String
- -staffList:
staffList :staffMemeber[]
StaffMemeber[] # address : String
# phone : String
+ toString() : String
+ payday() : void
+ pay() : double

Method payday() iterates

over elements s of
staffList and calls s.pay()
on each s. Volunteer Employee
# socialSecurityNumber : String
# payRate : double
+ toString() : String
Method payday() also calls + pay() : double + pay() : double

println(s) on each s.

This works because println Executive Hourly

is defined as: - hoursWorked : int
void println(Object o) - bonus : double
+ addHours(moreHours : int) : void
{String s =o.toString()); + toString() : String
+ awardBonus(execBonus : double) : void
OutStream.out(s); + pay() : double + pay() : double
}
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Single vs. Multiple Inheritance
 Some object-oriented languages allow multiple
inheritance, which allows a class to be derived
from two or more classes, inheriting the members
of all parents
 The price: collisions, such as the same variable
name, same method name in two parents, have to
be resolved
 Java decision: single inheritance, meaning that a
derived class can have only one parent class

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Interfaces
Java Interface
 A Java interface is a collection of constants
and abstract methods
 abstract method: a method header without a
method body; we declare an abstract method
using the modifier abstract
 since all methods in an interface are abstract,
the abstract modifier is usually left off

 Methods in an interface have public visibility

by default

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Interface: Syntax
interface is a reserved word

public interface Doable

{
public static final String NAME;

public void doThis();

public int doThat();
public void doThis2 (float value, char ch);
public boolean doTheOther (int num);
}

A semicolon immediately
follows each method header

No method in an
interface has a definition (body)
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Implementing an Interface
 A class formally implements an interface by
 stating so in the class header in the implements
clause
 a class can implement multiple interfaces: the
interfaces are listed in the implements clause,
separated by commas

 If a class asserts that it implements an

interface, it must define all methods in the
interface or the compiler will produce errors

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 Implementing Interfaces
public class Something implements Doable
{
public void doThis ()
implements is a
{
reserved word
// whatever
}

public void doThat () Each method listed

{ in Doable is
// whatever given a definition
}

// etc.
}

public class ManyThings implements Doable, AnotherDoable

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Interfaces: An Example
 A class that implements an interface can
implement other methods as well

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UML Diagram

<<interface>>
Complexity

MiniQuiz + getComplexity () : int

+ setComplexity (int) : void

1
+ main(args : String[]) : void

2 Question

+ getQuestion () : String
+ getAnswer () : String
+ answerCorrect (String) : boolean
+ toString() : String

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Interfaces: Examples from
Java Standard Class Library
 The Java Standard Class library defines many
interfaces:
 the Iterator interface contains methods that allow the
user to move through a collection of objects easily
• hasNext(), next(), remove()

 the Comparable interface contains an abstract method

called compareTo, which is used to compare two objects

if (obj1.compareTo(obj2) < 0)
System.out.println(“obj1 is less than obj2”);

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Polymorphism via Interfaces
 Define a polymorphism reference through
interface
 declare a reference variable of an interface type
Doable obj;

 the obj reference can be used to point to any object of

any class that implements the Doable interface

 the version of doThis depends on the type of object

that obj is referring to:
obj.doThis();

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Example: Polymorphism via Interface

 The payroll program revisited: we want to

sort the employees by name

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 More Examples
Speaker guest; public interface Speaker
{
guest = new Philosopher(); public void speak();
}
guest.speak();
class Philosopher extends Human
guest = Dog(); implements Speaker
guest.speak(); {
//
public void speak()
{…}
Speaker special; public void pontificate()
special = new Philosopher(); {…}
}
special.pontificate(); // compiler error
class Dog extends Animal implements
Speaker
{
//
Speaker special; public void speak()
{
special = new Philosopher();
…
}
((Philosopher)special).pontificate(); }

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Interface Hierarchies
 Inheritance can be applied to interfaces as well as
classes
 One interface can be used as the parent of
another
 The child interface inherits all abstract methods
of the parent
 A class implementing the child interface must
define all methods from both the parent and child
interfaces
 Note that class hierarchies and interface
hierarchies are distinct (they do not overlap)

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