Polymorphism, Subtyping, and

Casting

Instructor Name: Muhammad Fayyaz Awan

Department of Computer Science, COMSATS University Islamabad, Wah Campus, Pakistan
Outline
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 What is Polymorphism
 Subtyping, Subclassing and Subtype Polymorphism
 What is Casting
 Types of Casting
What is polymorphism
3

Polymorphism: poly
and morphs. The word
"poly" means many
and "morphs“ means
forms.
What is polymorphism
4

Compile time polymorphism: It is also

known as static polymorphism. This type
of polymorphism is achieved by function
overloading.

Run time polymorphism: It is also

known as Dynamic Method Dispatch. It
is a process in which a function call to
the overridden method is resolved at
Runtime. This type of polymorphism is
achieved by Method Overriding.
Polymorphism (Example)
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Subtyping, subclassing, and subtype polymorphism
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Subtype-polymorphism is
about implementing an
interface, and so being able to
substitute different
implementations of that
interface at run-time.

The implementers of the

interfaces are considered
subtypes.
Subclassing and Subtype Polymorphsim (example)
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Subclassing
class Base
{ //interface with included definitions}
class Derived extends Base
{
//Add some additional functionality.
//Reuse Base without having to explicitly forward //the
functions in Base
} Subtype polymorpshim

Interface XYZ
{ //some abstract interface, no definitions included } class
Implementation implements XYZ
{ //provide all the operations //required by the interface
}
Casting in java
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Type casting is when you assign a value of one primitive data type to another type.

Widening Casting (automatically) - converting a smaller type to a larger type size

byte -> short -> char -> int -> long -> float -> double

Narrowing Casting (manually) - converting a larger type to a smaller size type

double -> float -> long -> int -> char -> short -> byte

Object Type Casting in Java

Reference variables are different; the reference variable only refers to an object
but doesn’t contain the object itself.
Upcasting and downcasting
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Upcasting is casting to a supertype, while downcasting is casting to a subtype.

Upcasting is always allowed, but downcasting involves a type check and can
throw a ClassCastException

Upcasting: When we want to cast a Sub class to Super class, we use

Upcasting(generalization or widening). It happens automatically, no
need to do anything explicitly.

Downcasting : When we want to cast a Super class to Sub class, we

use Downcasting (specialization or narrowing), and Downcasting is not
directly possible in Java, but possible indirectly.
Upcasting and downcasting
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Upcasting / runtime polymorphism
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class Bike
{   If the reference variable of Parent
class refers to the object of Child
void run() class, it is known as up-casting.
{System.out.println("running");}  
}  
class Splendor extends Bike
{  
void run()
{System.out.println("running safely with 60km");}  
public static void main(String args[])
{  
Bike b = new Splendor();//upcasting  
b.run();  
}  
}  
Downcasting
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 References
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• https://www.javatpoint.com/runtime-polymorphism-in-java
• https://www.edureka.co/blog/coupling-in-java/
• https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/coupling-in-java/
• https://www.slideshare.net/AdilAslam4/object-oriented-programming-in-java-slide-56
• https://www.slideshare.net/AdilAslam4/object-oriented-programming-in-java-slide-46
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THANK YOU