notes16

FileInputStream f = new FileInputStream("filename");
try {
    statementX;
    return 1;
} catch (IOException e) {
    e.printStackTrace();
    return 2;
} finally {
    f.close();
}

class MyException extends Exception {
    public MyException() { super(); }
    public MyException(String s) { super(s); }
}

Suppose you're using a list of Objects to store Strings. When you fetch a String from the list, you have to cast it back to type "String" before you can call the methods exclusive to Strings. If somehow an object that's not a String got into your list, the cast will throw an exception. It would be nice to have the compiler enforce the restriction that nothing but Strings can ever get into your list in the first place, so you can sleep at night knowing that your family is safe from a ClassCastException.

So Java offers generics, which allow you to declare general classes that produce specialized objects. For example, you can create an SList for Strings only, and another SList for Integers only, even though you only wrote one SList class. To specify the class, SList takes a type parameter.

class SListNode<T> {                         // T is the formal parameter.
    T item;
    SListNode<T> next;

    SListNode(T i, SListNode<T> n) {
        item = i;
        next = n;
    }
}

public class SList<T> {
    SListNode<T> head;

    public void insertFront(T item) {
        head = new SListNode<T>(item, head);
    }
}

You can now create and use an SList of Strings as follows.

SList<String> l = new SList<String>();     // String is the actual parameter.
l.insertFront("Hello");

Likewise, you can create an SList of Integers by using "SList<Integer>" in the declaration and constructor.

What are the advantages of generics? First, the compiler will ensure at compile-time that nothing but Strings can ever enter your SList<String>. Second, you don't have to cast the Objects coming out of your SList back to Strings, so there is no chance of an unexpected ClassCastException at run time. If some bug in your program is trying to put Integer objects into your SList, it's much easier to diagnose the compiler refusing to put an Integer into an SList<String> than it is to diagnose a ClassCastException occurring when you remove an Integer from a regular SList and try to cast it to String.

Generics are a complicated subject. Consider this to be a taste of them; hardly a thorough treatment. A good tutorial is available at https://www.seas.upenn.edu/~cis1xx/resources/generics-tutorial.pdf .

Although Java generics are superficially similar to C++ templates, there's a crucial difference between them. In the example above, Java compiles bytecode for only a single SList class. This SList bytecode can be used by all different object types. It is the compiler, not the bytecode itself, that enforces the fact that a particular SList object can only store objects of a particular class. Conversely, C++ recompiles the SList methods for every type that you instantiate SLists on. The C++ disadvantage is that one class might turn into a lot of machine code. The C++ advantages are that you can use primitive types, and you get code optimized for each type. Java generics don't work with primitive types.

Just as methods can be overridden in subclasses, fields can be "shadowed" in subclasses. However, shadowing works quite differently from overriding. Whereas the choice of methods is dictated by the dyanamic type of an object, the choice of fields is dictated by the static type of a variable or object.

class Super {
    int x = 2;
    int f() {
        return 2;
    }
}

class Sub extends Super {
    int x = 4;                // shadows Super.x
    int f() {                 // overrides Super.f()
        return 4;
    }
}

Any object of class Sub now has two fields called x, each of which store a different integer. How do we know which field is accessed when we refer to x? It depends on the static type of the expression whose x field is accessed.

Sub sub = new Sub();
Super supe = sub;       // supe and sub reference the same object.
int i;

i = supe.x;             // 2
i = sub.x;              // 4
i = ((Super) sub).x;    // 2
i = ((Sub) supe).x;     // 4

The last four statements all use the same object, but yield different results. Recall that method overriding does not work the same way. Since both variables reference a Sub, the method Sub.f always overrides Super.f.

i = supe.f();           // 4
i = sub.f();            // 4
i = ((Super) sub).f();  // 4
i = ((Sub) supe).f();   // 4

What if the variable whose shadowed field you want to access is "this"? You can cast "this" too, but a simpler alternative is to replace "this" with "super".

class Sub extends Super {
    int x = 4;                  // shadows Super.x
    void g() {
        int i;

        i = this.x;             // 4
        i = ((Super) this).x    // 2
            i = super.x;        // 2
    }
}

Whereas method overriding is a powerful benefit of object orientation, field shadowing is largely a nuisance. Whenever possible, avoid having fields in subclasses whose names are the same as fields in their superclasses.

Static methods can be shadowed too; they follow the same shadowing rules as fields. This might seem confusing: why do ordinary, non-static methods use one system (overriding) while static methods use an entirely different system (shadowing)? The reason is because overriding requires dynamic method lookup. Dynamic method lookup looks up the dynamic type of an object. A static method is not called on an object, so there's nothing whose dynamic type we can look up. Therefore, static methods can't use dynamic method lookup or overriding. So they use shadowing instead.

Static method shadowing, like field shadowing, is largely a nuisance.

A method can be declared "final" to prevent subclasses from overriding it. Any attempt to override it will cause a compile-time error.

A class can be declared "final" to prevent it from being extended. Any attempt to declare a subclass will cause a compile-time error.

The only reason to declare a method or class "final" is to improve the speed of a program. The compiler can speed up method calls that cannot be overridden.