Time estimate: 45 min.

9.2. Inheritance and Constructors¶

Subclasses inherit public methods from the superclass that they extend, but they cannot access the private instance variables of the superclass directly. And subclasses do not inherit constructors from the superclass. But inherited instance variables need to be properly initialized or none of the inherited methods are likely to work properly, so how can a subclass initialize the superclass’s private variables?

If the super class provides public setter methods for those variables the subclass could use those. But that won’t always be the case. And sometimes constructors do more complex initialization than just setting variables.

The way out is provided by the keyword super. When used like the name of a method, i.e. when followed with parentheses and arguments, super provides a way to call the code in a superclass constructor, passing whatever arguments it needs. But unlike when we call a constructor with new, a call to super doesn’t create a new object. Instead it runs the constructor’s code in the context of the object currently being constructed. This lets the superclass constructor initialize the instance variables declared in the superclass including private variables the subclass can’t directly access.

It’s critical that all the instance variables in an object be properly initialized before the object is used, including by code in the rest of the constructor. To ensure that, if the constructor doesn’t start with a call to super Java will automatically insert a call to super with no arguments. (That means if the superclass does not have a no-argument constructor that the subclasses will have to explicitly call super with the appropriate arguments for some constructor that does exist. This ensures that instances of the subclass are properly initialized.)

For example the call to super(theName) in Employee below runs the code in the Person constructor that takes a String argument which presumably initializes an instance variable in the Person class to hold the name.

public class Employee extends Person
{
    public Employee(String theName)
    {
        super(theName); // calls Person(String) constructor
    }
}

Coding Exercise

Try creating another Employee object in the main method that passes in your name and then use the get methods to print it out. Which class constructor sets the name? Which class constructor sets the id?

class Person
{
    private String name;

public Person(String theName)
    {
        this.name = theName;
    }

public String getName()
    {
        return name;
    }

public boolean setName(String theNewName)
    {
        if (theNewName != null)
        {
            this.name = theNewName;
            return true;
        }
        return false;
    }
}

public class Employee extends Person
{
    private int id;
    public static int nextId = 1;

public Employee(String theName)
    {
        super(theName);
        id = nextId;
        nextId++;
    }

public int getId()
    {
        return id;
    }

public static void main(String[] args)
    {
        Employee emp = new Employee("Dani");
        System.out.println(emp.getName());
        System.out.println(emp.getId());
    }
}

====
import static org.junit.Assert.*;

import org.junit.*;

import java.io.*;

public class RunestoneTests extends CodeTestHelper
{
    public RunestoneTests()
    {
        super("Employee");
        Employee.nextId = 1;
    }

@Test
    public void test1()
    {
        String output = getMethodOutput("main");
        String expect = "Dani\n#";

boolean passed = getResults(expect, output, "Running main");
        Employee.nextId = 1;
        assertTrue(passed);
    }

@Test
    public void test2()
    {
        String code = getCode();
        String target = "Employee * = new Employee";

int num = countOccurencesRegex(code, target);

boolean passed = num >= 2;

getResults("2+", "" + num, "Creating new Employee()", passed);
        Employee.nextId = 1;
        assertTrue(passed);
    }
}

9.2.1. Chain of initialization¶

As you may recall from Unit 5, if you do not write a constructor your class will automatically get a default no-argument constructor. In addition to initializing all instance variables to the default value for their type, the default no-argument constructor calls the superclass’s no-argument constructor.

This means you can only write a class with a default no-argument constructor if its superclass has a no-argument constructor. If you are extending a class without a no-argument constructor but you want your class to have a no-argument constructor you will need to explicitly write one and use super to call an existing constructor on the superclass with appropriate arguments.

However it is created, explicitly or implicitly, the chain of super calls from each subclass to its superclass ends in the no-argument constructor of java.lang.Object. This is a special class defined in Java which is the superclass of any class that doesn’t explicitly extend some other class and the only class with no superclass and thus no super constructor that needs to be called.

Once the chain reaches the top, at Object it starts unwinding, with first the Object constructor code running, then the constructor from its subclass, and so on until finally the constructor of the actual class being constructed runs. At that point any inherited instance variables will have been initialized so the constructor can safely call inherited methods that depend on those variables.

Check your understanding

9-2-2: Given the class definitions of MPoint and NamedPoint below, which of the constructors that follow (labeled I, II, and III) would be valid in the NamedPoint class?

class MPoint
{
   private int myX; // coordinates
   private int myY;

   public MPoint( )
   {
      myX = 0;
      myY = 0;
   }

   public MPoint(int a, int b)
   {
      myX = a;
      myY = b;
   }

   // ... other methods not shown

}

public class NamedPoint extends MPoint
{
   private String myName;
   // constructors go here
   // ... other methods not shown
}

//  Proposed constructors for this class:
I.   public NamedPoint()
     {
        myName = "";
     }
II.  public NamedPoint(int d1, int d2, String name)
     {
        myX = d1;
        myY = d2;
        myName = name;
     }
III. public NamedPoint(int d1, int d2, String name)
     {
        super(d1, d2);
        myName = name;
     }

I only
I is okay but III is also okay.
I and III
The MPoint variables are private and they can not be directly accessed in NamedPoint. You can use super as the first line in a constructor to initialize them. If you don't use super as the first line in a constructor one will be put there by the compiler that will call the parent's no argument constructor.
II only
II is invalid. Children do not have direct access to private fields. You can use super in a constructor to initialize these by calling the parent's constructor with the same parameter list.
III only
I is also okay

You can step through this code using the Java Visualizer by clicking the following link Named Point.

9.2.2. Programming Challenge : Square is-a Rectangle¶

In this challenge, you are giving a class called Rectangle that has two instance variables, length and width, a constructor that initializes them, and a method called draw that uses nested loops to draw a length x width rectangle of stars. Try it out below.

You will write a new class called Square that inherits from Rectangle. Is a square a rectangle? Yes! A square is a rectangle where the length and width are equal. Square will inherit length, width, and the draw method. You will write Square constructors that will call the Rectangle constructors.

Make the class Square below inherit from Rectangle
Add a Square constructor with 1 argument for a side that calls Rectangle‘s constructor with 2 arguments using super.
Uncomment the objects in the main method to test drawing the squares.
Add an area method to Rectangle that computes the area of the rectangle. Does it work for Squares too? Test it.
Add another subclass called LongRectangle which inherits from Rectangle but has the additional condition that the length is always 2 x the width. Write constructors for it and test it out. Do not make it public (because only 1 class per file can be public).

Make the class Square below inherit from Rectangle.
Add a Square constructor with 1 argument for a side that calls Rectangle‘s constructor with 2 arguments using super.
Uncomment the objects in the main method to test drawing the squares.
Add an area method to Rectangle that computes the area of the rectangle. Does it work for Squares too? Test it.
Add another subclass called LongRectangle which inherits from Rectangle but has the additional condition that the length is always 2 x the width. Write constructors for it and test it out. Do not make it public (because only 1 class per file can be public).

class Rectangle
{
    private int length;
    private int width;

public Rectangle(int l, int w)
    {
        length = l;
        width = w;
    }

public void draw()
    {
        for (int i = 0; i < length; i++)
        {
            for (int j = 0; j < width; j++)
            {
                System.out.print("* ");
            }
            System.out.println();
        }
        System.out.println();
    }

// 4a. Add an area method to compute the area of the rectangle.

}

// 1. Make the class square inherit from Rectangle
public class Square
{

// 2. Add a Square constructor with 1 argument for a side

public static void main(String[] args)
    {
        Rectangle r = new Rectangle(3, 5);
        r.draw();
        // 3. Uncomment these to test
        // Square s1 = new Square(1);
        // s1.draw();
        // Square s = new Square(3);
        // s.draw();

// 4b. Add some tests for your area method after you write it
    }
}

// 5. Define the LongRectangle class here
  //    Do not make it public because only 1 class with main can be public in 1 file.

====
import static org.junit.Assert.*;

import org.junit.*;

import java.io.*;

public class RunestoneTests extends CodeTestHelper
{
    public RunestoneTests()
    {
        super("Square");
    }

@Test
    public void test1()
    {
        String output = getMethodOutput("main").trim();
        String expect = "* * * * *\n* * * * * \n* * * * * \n\n* \n\n* * * \n* * * \n* * *";

boolean passed = getResults(expect, output, "Running main");
        assertTrue(passed);
    }

@Test
    public void test2()
    {
        String target = "extends Rectangle";

boolean passed = checkCodeContains(target);
        assertTrue(passed);
    }

@Test
    public void test4()
    {
        String output = checkConstructor(new Object[] {1});
        String expect = "pass";

boolean passed =
                getResults(expect, output, "Checking Square constructor with 1 argument (int)");
        assertTrue(passed);
    }

@Test
    public void test5()
    {
        String target = "area";

boolean passed = checkCodeContains(target);
        assertTrue(passed);
    }

@Test
    public void test6()
    {
        String target = "LongRectangle extends Rectangle";

boolean passed = checkCodeContains(target);
        assertTrue(passed);
    }
}

For a more complex example of drawing shapes, try running this replit Java Swing code (or download the files here by clicking on Download on the top right and use the files in your own Java IDE). When the yellow panel comes up, click on either the Rectangle or the Oval button and then click and drag somewhere on the yellow panel to draw that shape. Take a look at the Rectangle.java and Oval.java files to see how they inherit from the Shape class in Shape.java. Java Swing graphical programming is not covered on the AP CSA exam, but it is a lot of fun!

9.2.3. Summary¶

Subclasses do not have access to the private instance variables in a superclass that they extend.
Constructors are not inherited.
A superclass constructor must be called from the first line of a subclass constructor by using the keyword super and passing appropriate parameters. If there is no explicit call to super an implicit call to super() will be added by the Java compiler.
The actual parameters passed in the call to super provide values that the superclass constructor can use to initialize the object’s instance variables.
Regardless of whether the superclass constructor is called implicitly or explicitly, the process of calling superclass constructors continues until the Object constructor is called. At this point, all of the constructors within the hierarchy execute beginning with the Object constructor.

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