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INHERITANCE

4/6/2024 OOP- CH-3- Inheritance

Contents
1. Introduction
2. Super-classes and sub-classes
3. Protected members
4. Overriding methods
5. Using this() and super()
6. Use of final keyword with inheritance
7. Constructors in subclasses

4/6/2024
Contents
1. Introduction
2. Super-classes and sub-classes
3. Protected members
4. Overriding methods
5. Using this() and super()
6. Use of final keyword with inheritance
7. Constructors in subclasses

4/6/2024
 Introduction
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 Inheritance is one of the key features of OOP that

allows us to create a new class from an existing
class.
 Itis the ability to derive something specific from
something generic.
 A class can inherit the futures of another class and
add its own modification
 The existing class is called the parent class, or
superclass, or base class
 The derived class is called the child class or subclass

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 As the name implies, the child inherits

characteristics of the parent
 Thatis, the child class (subclass) inherits all the
properties and methods of the parent (super) class
 Proper inheritance creates an is-a relationship,
meaning the child is a more specific version of the
parent
Vehicle

Car

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 Is-a relationship
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 In Java, inheritance is an is-a relationship. That is,

we use inheritance only if there exists an is-a
relationship between two classes.
 For example,
 Car is a Vehicle
 Orange is a Fruit

 Surgeon is a Doctor

 Dog is an Animal

 Here, Car can inherit from Vehicle, Orange can

inherit from Fruit, and so on.
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 Why use Inheritance?
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 The most important use of inheritance in Java is

code reusability.
 The code that is present in the parent class can be
directly used by the child class.
 Method overriding is also known as runtime
polymorphism.
 Hence, we can achieve Polymorphism in Java with the
help of inheritance.

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 Type of Inheritance
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 There are five types of inheritance.

 Single inheritance
 Multiple inheritance

 Hierarchical inheritance

 Multilevel inheritance

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 Single Inheritance
 In single inheritance, a single subclass extends from a
single superclass.
 For example,

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 Multilevel Inheritance
 Inmultilevel inheritance, a subclass extends from a
superclass and then the same subclass acts as a
superclass for another class.
 For example

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 Hierarchical Inheritance
 In hierarchical inheritance, multiple subclasses extend
from a single superclass.
 For example,

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 Multiple Inheritance
 Inmultiple inheritance, a single subclass extends from
multiple super classes.
 Note: Java doesn't support multiple inheritance

 For example,

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 Hybrid Inheritance
 Hybrid inheritance is a combination of two or more
types of inheritance.
 For example,

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Contents
1. Introduction
2. Super-classes and sub-classes
3. Protected members
4. Overriding methods
5. Using this() and super()
6. Use of final keyword with inheritance
7. Constructors in subclasses

4/6/2024
 Super and Sub Classes
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 The aim of inheritance is to provide the reusability of

code so that
 A class has to write only the unique features and
 Rest of the common properties and functionalities can be
extended from the another class.
 Sub class
 The class that extends the features of another class is
known as child class, sub class or derived class.
 Super class
 The class whose properties and functionalities are
used(inherited) by another class is known as parent class,
super class or Base class.
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 extends keyword
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 The extends keyword is used to perform inheritance

in Java.
 Here class Car is child class and class Vehicle is parent
class.
 The class Car is inheriting the properties and methods
of Vehicle class.
class Car extends Vehicle
{

}
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 Example
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 Classes in Java support single inheritance; the Car

class can't extend multiple classes.
 Also, note that in the absence of an extends keyword, a
class implicitly inherits class java.lang.Object.
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 A subclass class inherits the protected and public

members from the superclass class.
 In addition, the members with default and package access
are inherited if the two classes are in the same package.
 On the other hand, the private members of a class are
not inherited.
 To access inherited properties or methods, we can
simply use them directly:
 Note that we don't need a reference to the superclass to
access its members

4/6/2024
Contents
1. Introduction
2. Super-classes and sub-classes
3. Protected members
4. Overriding methods
5. Using this() and super()
6. Use of final keyword with inheritance
7. Constructors in subclasses

4/6/2024
 Protected Members
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 A class's public members are accessible wherever

the program has a reference to an object of that
class or one of its subclasses.
 A class's private members are accessible only from
within the class itself. A superclass's private
members are not inherited by its subclasses.
 Using protected access offers an intermediate level
of access between public and private.

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A superclass's protected members can be accessed by

members of that superclass, by members of its
subclasses and by members of other classes in the same
package (i.e., protected members also have package
access).
 All public and protected superclass members retain
their original access modifier when they become
members of the subclass.
 public
members of the superclass
become public members of the subclass, and

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 protectedmembers of the superclass

become protected members of the subclass).
 Subclass methods can refer to public and protected
members inherited from the superclass simply by
using the member names.

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Contents
1. Introduction
2. Super-classes and sub-classes
3. Protected members
4. Overriding methods
5. Using this() and super()
6. Use of final keyword with inheritance
7. Constructors in subclasses

4/6/2024
 Inheritance and Method Overriding
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 When we declare the same method in child class

which is already present in the parent class the
this is called method overriding.
 In this case when we call the method from child class
object, the child class version of the method is called.
 However we can call the parent class method using
super keyword.

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 Usage of Java Method Overriding

 Method overriding is used to provide the specific
implementation of a method which is already provided by
its superclass.
 Method overriding is used for runtime polymorphism

 Rules for Java Method Overriding

 The method must have the same name as in the parent class
 The method must have the same parameter as in the parent
class.
 There must be an IS-A relationship (inheritance).

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 Example:

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 Method overriding properties

 Overriding and Access-Modifiers : The access modifier
for an overriding method can allow more, but not less,
access than the overridden method.
 Final methods can not be overridden : If we don’t
want a method to be overridden, we declare it as final.
 Static methods can not be overridden: When you
define a static method with same signature as a static
method in base class, it is known as method hiding.

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 Privatemethods can not be overridden : Private

methods cannot be overridden as they are bonded
during compile time. Therefore we can’t even override
private methods in a subclass.

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 Invoking overridden method from sub-class : We can

call parent class method in overriding method
using super keyword.
 Overriding and constructor : We can not override
constructor as parent and child class can never have
constructor with same name(Constructor name must
always be same as Class name).

4/6/2024
Contents
1. Introduction
2. Super-classes and sub-classes
3. Protected members
4. Overriding methods
5. Using this and super keyword
6. Use of final keyword with inheritance
7. Constructors in subclasses

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 Using this and super keyword
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 Java provides two useful implicit reference

variables ‘this’ and ‘super’.
 Both are used to resemble the reference variable
pointing to the super class and subclass

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 this Keyword
 It is an implicit reference variable that is used to refer
current class objects
 It invokes the constructor of subclass
 In the case of overridden methods, this keyword is used
to invoke the method of subclass
 It solves the problem of variable hiding. Using this
keyword, a compiler always refers to instance variable
of the current class.
 It can be used to return and pass as an argument in
context of current class object
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 super keyword
 It is an implicit reference variable that is used to refer
child class’s immediate parent class objects.
 It invokes the constructor of superclass

 In the case of the overridden method, super keyword is

used to invoke the method of superclass.
 Using super keyword, compiler always refer to
immediate parent class instance variable.
 It can be used to return and pass as an argument in
context of parent class object.
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 Java Inheritance Hiding(Shadowing)
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 Variable Hiding
 When both the child and the parent classes have a
variable with the same name, the child's variable
hides the one from the parent.

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 To test it, let's initialize two instances. One with

parent class and another with the child, then invoke
the printInstanceVariable() methods on each of them:

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 Method Hiding
 Method hiding may happen in any hierarchy structure in
java.
 When a child class defines a static method with the
same signature as a static method in the parent class,
then the child's method hides the one in the parent class.
 The same behavior involving the instance methods is
called method overriding.

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 Method Hiding vs Overriding

 Hiding doesn't work like overriding, because static
methods are not polymorphic.
 Overriding occurs only with instance methods.
◼ It
supports late binding, so which method will be called is
determined at runtime.
 On the other hand, method hiding works with static
ones. Therefore it's determined at compile time.

4/6/2024
Contents
1. Introduction
2. Super-classes and sub-classes
3. Protected members
4. Overriding methods
5. Using this() and super()
6. Use of final keyword with inheritance
7. Constructors in subclasses

4/6/2024
 final keyword
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 Java final keyword is a non-access specifier that is

used to restrict a class, variable, and method.
 Declaring constants (used with variable and argument
declaration)
◼ final int MAX=100;
 Disallowing method overriding (used with method
declaration)
◼ final void show (final int x)
 Disallowing inheritance (used with class declaration).
◼ final class Demo {}
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 Example
class Parent {
final void final_method() {
//definition of the Final Method
}
}
class Child extends Parent {
final void final_method(){
//generates a compile-time error
}
}

4/6/2024
Contents
1. Introduction
2. Super-classes and sub-classes
3. Protected members
4. Overriding methods
5. Using this() and super()
6. Use of final keyword with inheritance
7. Constructors in subclasses

4/6/2024
 Constructor in subclass
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 A class that extends another class does not inherit

its constructors.
 However, the subclass must call a constructor in the
superclass inside of its the subclass constructors!
 If a subclass calls another constructor within itself, then
the called constructor must call the superclass
constructor.
 To invoke a superclass's constructor, use
the super keyword

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 Invocation of a superclass constructor must be the first

line in the subclass constructor.
 The syntax for calling a superclass constructor is
◼ super();
◼ the superclass no-argument constructor is called.
or:
◼ super(parameter list);
◼ the superclass constructor with a matching parameter list is
called.

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 Example
public Box()
{
super();
height = 0;
}

public Box(double l, double w, double h)

{
super(l, w);
height = h;
}

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Questions?
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Thank You
4/6/2024