Introduction
Inheritance
  Demo 1
Overriding
  Demo 2a   Demo 2b
this,super
MoreConstructors
  Demo 3
Abstraction
Interface 
  Demo 4
Casting References
MoreAboutArrays
Object class
Class Summary
Exercises

Here we look at other aspects of working with classes .

In Chapter 2 we discussed the topic of mixing different primitive types in the same operation and the need in some cases to explicitly cast one type into another. An object reference can also need casting. However, it can only cast to its own class type or to one of its sub- or super-classes types or interfaces.

Automatic Conversions

Sometimes, as with primitives, the type conversion is automatically handled by the compiler. Consider a superclass Fruit with a subclass Pineapple:

  class Fruit { ... }
  class Pineapple extends Fruit { ... }

Let f be a variable of type Fruit and p be of type Pineapple. Then we can assign the Pineapple reference to the Fruit variable:

The compiler automatically handles the assignment since the types are compatible. That is, the type Fruit can "hold" the type Pineapple since a Pineapple is a Fruit. Such automatic cases are called conversions.

A related automatic conversion is with interfaces. Let the class Fruit implement the Sweet interface.

  interface Sweet { ... }
  class Fruit implements Sweet { ... }

Then we see that a variable of type Fruit can be automatically converted to a variable of type Sweet. This makes perfect sense since a Fruit is Sweet.

  Fruit f;
  Sweet s;
  public void good_convert () {
    s = f; // legal conversion from class type to interface type
  }

However, an attempt to convert from the interface type to the class type does not compile:

  public void bad_convert () {
    f = s; // illegal conversion from interface type to class type
  }

Explicit Casts

For cases where automatic conversion does not apply, an explicit cast is required. As with casting primitive types, the class type that an object is being cast to is enclosed in parenthesis in front of the object reference. For example, let the classes BClass and CClass be subclasses of AClass.

  class AClass {
    void aMethod () { ... }
  }

  class BClass extends AClass {
    void bMethod () { ... }
  }

In some other class there is miscMethod(AClass obj) in which an AClass object, as well as an object of an AClass subclass type, passes as an AClass type argument. The method will invoke aMethod() regardless of the type of object and if it is a BClass object, it will also invoke bMethod(). It can use the instanceof operator to determine the type.

Cast Rules

The casting rules can be confusing, but in most cases common sense applies. There are compile-time rules and runtime rules. The compile-time rules are there to catch attempted casts in cases that are simply not possible.

For instance, suppose we have classes A and B that are completely unrelated - i.e., neither inherits from the other and neither implements the same interface as the other, if any. It is nonsensical to attempt to cast a B object to an A object, and the compiler does not permit it even with an explicit cast. Instead, the compiler issues an "inconvertible types" error message.

Casts that are permitted at compile-time include casting any object to its own class or to one of its sub or superclass types or interfaces. Almost anything can be cast to almost any interface, and an interface can be cast to almost any class type. There are some obscure cases (see the Java Language Specification for the details), but these common sense rules cover most situations.

The compile-time rules cannot catch every invalid cast attempt. If the compile-time rules permit a cast, then additional, more stringent rules apply at runtime. These runtime rules basically require that the object being cast is compatible with the new type it is being cast to. Else, a ClassCastException is thrown at runtime.

References & Web Resources

• The Object class - the base class for all Java classes. Can always treat a Java object as an Object type.

Latest update: Oct. 20, 2004

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