Abstrac Class in Java

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Java Programming

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2-2

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Java Class Design – Abstract Classes

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Abstrac Class in Java
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Overview

This lesson covers the following topics:

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• Use Abstract Classes

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• Use the instanceof operator to compare object types

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• Use virtual method invocation

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• Use upward and downward casts
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Abstract Classes

• An abstract class provides a base class from which other

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classes extend.

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• Abstract classes can provide:

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– Implemented methods: Those that are fully implemented and

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their child classes may use them.

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– Abstract methods: Those that have no implementation and
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require child classes to implement them.
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• Abstract classes do not allow construction directly but you

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can create subclasses or static nested classes to instantiate

them.

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Abstract Classes

• An abstract class:

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– Must be defined by using the abstract keyword.

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– Cannot be instantiated into objects.

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– Can have local declared variables.

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– Can have method definitions and implementations.

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– Must be subclassed rather than implemented.
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More Information about Abstract Classes

• If a concrete class uses an abstract class, it must inherit it.

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Inheritance precludes inheriting from another class.

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• Abstract classes are important when all derived classes

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should share certain methods.

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• The alternative is to use an interface, then define at least one
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concrete class that implements the interface.
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• This means you can use the concrete class as an object type
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for a variable in any number of programs which provides

much greater flexibility.

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Abstract Class or Interface

• There is no golden rule on whether to use Interfaces, Abstract

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classes or both.

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• An abstract class usually has a stronger relationship between

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itself and the classes that will be derived from it than

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interfaces.

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• Classes and Interfaces can implement multiple interfaces.
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Where a class can only be a sub class of one abstract class.
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• Abstract classes allow methods to be defined.

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Bank Account as Abstract

• Previously we had implemented an interface for the Account

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class.

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public interface InterfaceBankAccount{

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public final String bank= "JavaBank";
public void deposit(int amt);

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public void withdraw(int amt);

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public int getbalance();
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• We could have used an abstract class instead.
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Bank Account as Abstract

• Interface

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public interface InterfaceBankAccount

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{
public final String bank= "JavaBank";

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public void deposit(int amt);
public void withdraw(int amt);

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public int getbalance();

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}

• Abstract Class
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public abstract class AbstractBankAccount {
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public final String bank= "JavaBank";

public abstract void deposit(int amt);
public abstract void withdraw(int amt);
public abstract int getbalance();
}

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Bank Account as Abstract

• In this implementation there is no advantage of using an

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abstract class over an interface.

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• We would be better using an interface especially if all bank

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accounts had to implement only those defined methods.

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• The interface approach would also allows us to use other
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interfaces in our class design.
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• If we wanted some base functionality to be defined then we
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would use an abstract class.

• An example is shown on the following slide.

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Bank Account as Abstract

public abstract class AbstractBankAccount {
String accountname;
int accountnum;

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int balance;
public void deposit(int amt)

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{
balance=balance+amt;

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}
public void withdraw(int amt)

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{
balance=balance-amt;

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}
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public void setaccountname(String name)
{
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accountname = name;
}
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public void setaccountnum(int num)

{
accountnum = num;
}
public abstract int getbalance();
public abstract void print();
}

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The instanceof Operator

• The instanceof operator allows you to determine the type of

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an object.

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• It takes an object on the left side of the operator and a type

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on the right side of the operator and returns a boolean value

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indicating whether the object belongs to that type or not.
• For example:
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– (String instanceof Object) would return true.
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– (String instanceof Integer) would return false.

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Using the instanceof Operator

• This could be useful when you desire to have different object

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types call methods specific to their type.

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public class CustomerAccounts {

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private InterfaceBankAccount[] bankaccount = new

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InterfaceBankAccount[10];
public CustomerAccounts() {

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InterfaceBankAccount[] b = {
new Account("Sanjay Gupta",11556,300),
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new CreditAccount("Sally Walls",66778,1000,500)
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};
this.bankaccount = b;
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}
}

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instanceof Operator Example

• In this example, the instanceof operator is used to find all of

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the CreditAccounts in an array and add them to a String

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called list.

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public String getAllCreditAccounts() {

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String list = "";
for (int i = 0; i < this.bankaccount.length; i++) {

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if (this.bankaccount[i] instanceof CreditAccount) {
if (list.length() == 0) {
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list += this.bankaccount[i]; }
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else {
list += ", " + this.bankaccount[i];
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}
}
}
return list;
}

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instanceOf Operator Example Explained

• In the previous instanceof operator example:

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– The array is defined using the InterfaceBankAccount interface. It

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can hold any class that solely implements its methods and

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extends them with other specialization methods and variables.

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• As the program reads through the array, it assigns the string

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value from the toString() method to the list variable.
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• You should always consider overridding the toString(), hash(),
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and equals() methods in your user-defined classes.
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Virtual Method Invocation

• Virtual method invocation is the process where Java identifies

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the type of subclass and calls its implementation of a method.

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• When the Java virtual machine invokes a class method, it

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selects the method to invoke based on the type of the object

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reference, which is always known at compile time.

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• On the other hand, when the virtual machine invokes an
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instance method, it selects the method to invoke based on
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the actual class of the object, which may only be known at
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runtime.

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Virtual Method Invocation Example

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...
public String toString() {

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String list = "";
for (int i = 0; i < this.bankaccount.length; i++) {

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if (list.length() == 0) {

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list += this.bankaccount[i]; }
else {

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list += "\n : " +this.bankaccount[i];}
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return super.toString() + "\n" + list + "\n"
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}
...
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Assigning the object to

the String calls that
object's toString
method.

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Virtual Method Invocation Example

Explained

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• The toString() method uses virtual method invocation by

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calling the toString() method of the different subclasses.

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• The decision is made by JVM to call the toString method

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implemented in the subclasses rather than the toString

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method in the superclass or the Object class.
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Upcasting and Downcasting

• Casting is the principal of changing the object type during

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assignment.

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• Upcasting loses access to specialized methods in the

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subclassed object instance.

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• Downcasting gains access to specialized methods of the
subclass.
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Upcasting and Downcasting Example

• Casting objects works somewhat like casting primitives.

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• For example, when downcasting a double to an int, the values

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to the right of the decimal point are lost.

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• This is a loss of precision.

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• For that reason, you must explicitly specify the downcast
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type.
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• For example:
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double complexNumber = 45.75L;

int simpleNumber = 34;

simpleNumber = (int) complexNumber;

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Upcasting and Downcasting Example

• Upcasting does not risk the loss of precision nor require you

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to specify the new data type in parentheses.

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Upcasting Example

• Even though CreditAccount is an Account, it was upcast to

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Account so it lost access to its Credit Account specific

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methods and fields.

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• Attempts to access subclass methods fail at compile time.

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CreditAccount is a subclass of Account.

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Account is a superclass.
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Account account =
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(Account) new CreditAccount("Sally Walls",66778,1000,500);
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...
account.getcreditlimit();
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Fails because the method belongs to the
CreditAccount subclass and access to it is lost
when upward casting.

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Upcasting Example Explained

• The loss of precision in object assignments differs from

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primitive data types.

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• Upcasting from a specialized subclass to a generalized

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superclass loses access to the specialized variables and

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methods. CreditAccount is a subclass of Account.

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Account is a superclass.
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Account account =
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(Account) new CreditAccount("Sally Walls",66778,1000,500);
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account.getcreditlimit();
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Fails because the method belongs to the
CreditAccount subclass and access to it is lost
when upward casting.

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Downcasting Example

• Downcasting the superclass works here because the runtime

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object is actually a CreditAccount instance.

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• The Account instance is first cast to a subclass of itself before

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running the CreditAccount instance method.

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CreditAccount is a subclass of Account.

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Account is a superclass.
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Account account =
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(Account) new CreditAccount("Sally Walls",66778,1000,500);
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...
((CreditAccount)account).getcreditlimit();
...
Succeeds because the method belongs to the
CreditAccount subclass.

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Downcasting Example Explained

• Downcasting from a generalized to specialized subclass

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returns access to the specialized variables and methods if

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they were there from a previous upcast.

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CreditAccount is a subclass of Account.

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Account is a superclass.
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Account account =
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(Account) new CreditAccount("Sally Walls",66778,1000,500);
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...
((CreditAccount)account).getcreditlimit();
...
Succeeds because the method belongs to the
CreditAccount subclass.

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Terminology

Key terms used in this lesson included:

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• Abstract class

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• instanceof

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• Casting
• Downward cast
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• Interface
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• Upward cast
• Virtual method invocation

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Summary

In this lesson, you should have learned how to:

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• Model business problems using Java classes

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• Use Abstract Classes

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• Use the instanceof operator to compare object types

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• Use virtual method invocation
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• Use upward and downward casts
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