Inheritance,

part 1
COMP 401, Spring 2014
Lecture 8
2/4/2014

Sta;c Class Fields

Indicated by sta$c modier to eld declara;on.
Can be accessed via the class name

access modiers can also be used to control visibility

Contrast with instance elds

Each object has its own copy of an instance eld

Value of the instance elds are the state of the object

Only one copy of the class eld

Associated with the class as a whole

Common uses

As named constant values associated with the class

In this case, modify the declara;on of the eld with the keyword nal
By conven;on, named constants are ALL_CAPS

As collec;ve informa;on associated with the class as a whole.

Avoid accessing sta;c class elds through an object.

It does work, but it is misleading and not good style

lec8.ex1

Sta;c Class Methods

Methods associated with the class but that
are not associated with a specic object.
No this reference within the func;on.

Common uses
GeSers / SeSers for sta;c class elds
Helper / auxiliary func;ons
Factory methods for crea;ng new instances
Well revisit this in more detail later later in the class.

lec8.ex2

Mo;va;ng Enumera;ons
OWen need to model part of an object as one
value from a set of nite choices
Examples:

Suite of a playing card

Day of week
Direc;ons of a compass

One approach is to use named constants

lec8.ex3

Drawbacks of this approach

No type safety
No value safety

Simple Java Enumera;ons

General syntax:
access_type enum EnumName {symbol,
symbol, ...};!

Example:

public enum Genre {POP, RAP, JAZZ, INDIE, CLASSICAL}

Enumera;on name acts as the data type for the

enumerated values.

Enumerated values available as EnumName.symbol as in:

Genre.POP

Outside of the class

Fully qualied name required as in: Song.Genre.POP

Symbol names dont have to all caps, but that is tradi;onal

lec8.ex4

Not so simple enumera;ons

Java enumera;ons are actually much more
powerful than this.
Check out this tutorial for more:
hSp://javarevisited.blogspot.com/2011/08/enum-
in-java-example-tutorial.html

Recap of Interfaces
A contract for behavior.
Dened by a set of method signatures.
Acts as a data type.
No implementa;on.
Specic classes implement the interface

Song and Video as Media

public interface Media {
int getLengthInSeconds();
double getLengthInMinutes();
int getRa;ng();
void setRa;ng(int new_ra;ng);
String getName();
}
public class Song implements Media {
....

public class Video implements Media {

....

We expect Song and

Video to have methods
matching those
specied in Media.

Is-A and cas;ng

A class that implements an interface creates an
is-a rela;onship between class data type and
the interface data type.
A implements B => A is a B
Song is a Media
Video is a Media

Cas;ng allowed across an is-a rela;onship.

Song s = new Song();
Media m;

m = (Media) s;

Video v = new Video();

Media m;

m = (Media) v;

Video v = new Video();

Song s;

s = (Song) v;
9

Inheritance
What is inheritance in real life?
Characteris;cs / resources that you receive from your
parents
Get these automa;cally.
Part of who you are.

Similar idea in object-oriented programming.

In Java, concept of inheritance applied to both
interfaces and classes.
Both signaled by the keyword extends
Similar in concept, but details are dis;nctly dierent.
Class inheritance more complex.

Extending Interfaces
Adds methods to contract.
Original:
parent interface, super interface

New:
subinterface, child interface, extended interface

Created by using the extends keyword.

public interface CompressedMedia extends Media {
int getCompressedSize();
int getUncompressedSize();
Media uncompress();
}

Extension Creates Hierarchy

Is-A rela;onship is
transi;ve up the
hierarchy.
Methods for both
must be provided.

Media
extends
Compressed
Media

public class Song implements CompressedMedia {

...
Song s = new Song();

OK because s is a
CompressedMedia cm = (CompressedMedia) s;
Compressed Media

Media m = (Media) s;
OK because s is a Media by virtue of extension.

Cas$ng from interface back to specic object type is
Song s2 = (Song) m;
allowed, but at run$me, if the objects type does not actually
match, a run$me excep$on will be thrown.

Extension vs. Composi;on

Interface extension appropriate when
addi;onal methods make no sense without
methods of the parent interface.
Alterna;vely, can compose mul;ple
interfaces together as facets of an object.

Extension vs. Composi;on

public interface Compressed {
int getCompressedSize();
int getUncompressedSize();
Media uncompress();
}
Instead of extending Media,
Compressed is a separate
interface and Song implements
both.

public interface Media {

int getLengthInSeconds();
double getLengthInMinutes();
int getRa;ng();
void setRa;ng(int new_ra;ng);
String getName();
}

public class Song implements Compressed, Media {

...
Song s = new Song();

Media m = (Media) s;

Compressed c = (Compressed) s;

Song is a Media AND Song is

a Compressed.

Subinterfacing Odds and Ends

Mul;ple inheritance for interfaces is allowed.
A subinterface can extend more than one exis;ng
interface.
In this case, just a union of all methods declared in
all of the parent interfaces.
Plus, of course, the ones added by the subinterfaces.

Interfaces can dene enumera;ons.

Assignment 3
Pixel iterator should NOT make a copy of the
pixels in the frame.
SHOULD maintain a reference to the frame and
any info needed to keep track of the traversal.

setPixel method will require a cast

You can assume that the specic object provided
to the method will be the appropriate type.

Midterm Logis;cs
Strongly considering moving midterm to either
be Thursday or Friday during recita;on.
Will talk to TAs on Wed. evening and will have a
decision posted that night.

Closed book
No need for exam book or scantron
Learning accommoda;ons
Let me know if this applies.
Take the test at learning services.
Drop it o at my oce.

Midterm
Part 1: Mul;ple choice, true/false

Basic Java language syntax

OO concepts
More than one answer may be correct.

Think of it as a group of related true/false ques;ons.

Example:

Which of these is NOT a valid built-in Java data type?

a) int
b) unsigned short
c) char
d) double
e) true

Midterm
Part 2: Short answer / calcula;on
Evaluate small snippets of code

Example:
What is the value of the variable bar aWer the
following code executes?
int bar; !
int[] a = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5}; !
int[] b = a; !
b[2] = a[1]; !
bar = a[2]; !

Midterm
Part III: Understanding Code
Ill provide the code for one or more classes
and then ask ques;ons like:
Iden;fy all of the instance elds of class A.
Iden;fy all of the class methods of class A.
What is the return type of method m of class B?

Midterm
Part IV: Wri;ng Code
Asked to dene one or more simple classes
according to some specica;on.
May be provided with a par;al implementa;on
that you have to complete.

Topics / Concepts
Basic Java syntax

Variable names, built-in data types

Reference types vs. value types

Arrays
Concepts of abstrac;on and encapsula;on
JavaBeans conven;ons
Interfaces

Including extending interfaces covered today

Is-A rela;onship with interfaces

Enumera;ons
Iterator
Constructor Chaining / Method Overloading