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Class Inheritance >
Siva Nookala - 03 Mar 2017
Inheritance, is one of three object oriented concepts, which helps to separate out common data and behavior (or member variables and methods) from multiple related classes. As observed in Java Program To Compare Movies, it is necessary to remove duplicate code across classes. Inheritance greatly helps in simplifying the code, enhancing its the re-usability and maintainability.

To achieve inheritance, we need to create a super class with the common code and behavior from multiple classes. Then we use the extends keyword to use that common code in the sub classes. The program below is modified version of Java Program To Compare Movies using inheritance.
Compare Entertainments Using Inheritance
class CompareEntertainmentsUsingInheritance
{
    public static void main(String arg[])
    {
        Movie julai = new Movie();
        julai.name = "Julai";
        julai.director = "Trivikram";
        julai.stuntMaster = "Peter Hein";
        julai.numberOfArtists = 57;
        julai.releaseDate = "15-Aug-2012";
        
        julai.collectionsFirstWeek = 215467.8;
        julai.collectionsRestOfTheDays = 541132.5;
        
        Drama ramayan = new Drama();
        ramayan.name = "Ramayana";
        ramayan.writer = "Valmiki";
        ramayan.stageSetter = "Anjaneya";
        ramayan.numberOfArtists = 200000;
        ramayan.releaseDate = "17-Mar-1659 BC";
        
        ramayan.collectionsFirstWeek = 3282937242.86;
        ramayan.collectionsRestOfTheDays = 93488272349.51;
        
        
        Circus jumbo = new Circus();
        jumbo.name = "Jumbo";
        jumbo.ringMaster = "Antony";
        jumbo.numberOfArtists = 316;
        jumbo.releaseDate = "16-Dec-1997";
        
        jumbo.collectionsFirstWeek = 2123132.21;
        jumbo.collectionsRestOfTheDays = 234936725.09;
        
        if((jumbo.getTotalCollections() > julai.getTotalCollections()) && (jumbo.getTotalCollections() > ramayan.getTotalCollections()))
        {
            jumbo.print();
        }
        else if (julai.getTotalCollections() > ramayan.getTotalCollections())
        {
            julai.print();
        }
        else
        {
            ramayan.print();
        }
    
    }
}

class Entertainment
{
    String name;
    int numberOfArtists;
    String releaseDate;
    double collectionsFirstWeek;
    double collectionsRestOfTheDays;

    double getTotalCollections()
    {
        return collectionsFirstWeek + collectionsRestOfTheDays;
    }

    void printEntertainment()
    {
        System.out.println( name + " got the following collections " );
        System.out.println("First Week : " + collectionsFirstWeek);
        System.out.println("Rest Of The Days : " + collectionsRestOfTheDays);
        System.out.println("Total Collections : " + getTotalCollections());
        System.out.println("Total Artists : " + numberOfArtists);
        System.out.println("Release Date : " + releaseDate);
    }

}

class Movie extends Entertainment
{
    String director;
    String stuntMaster;

    void print()
    {
        printEntertainment();
        System.out.println("Director : " + director);
        System.out.println("Stunt Master : " + stuntMaster);
    }
}

class Drama extends Entertainment
{
    String writer;
    String stageSetter;


    void print()
    {
        printEntertainment();
        System.out.println("Writer : " + writer);
        System.out.println("Stage Setter : " + stageSetter);
    }
}

class Circus extends Entertainment
{
    String ringMaster;

    void print()
    {
        printEntertainment();
        System.out.println("Ring Master : " + ringMaster);
    }
}
OUTPUT

Ramayana got the following collections
First Week : 3.28293724286E9
Rest Of The Days : 9.348827234951E10
Total Collections : 9.677120959237E10
Total Artists : 200000
Release Date : 17-Mar-1659 BC
Writer : Valmiki
Stage Setter : Anjaneya

DESCRIPTION

Here we have created a class called Entertainment, where the common variables and methods from related classes Movie, Drama and Circus are included. These classes (Movie, Drama and Circus) inherit those properties (variables and methods) from the class Entertainment. Here Entertainment is the super-class and the Movie, Drama and Cirucs are the sub-classes.
In the main method, both the variables belonging the super-class and the sub-class can be accessed as if they belong to a single class. e.g., On the Drama object ramayan, we are accessing the super-class variables name, numberOfArtists, releaseDate along with the sub-class (Drama) variables writer and stageSetter. There is no difference in the way the super-class variables and the sub-class variables are accessed.
Similarly there is no difference in accessing the methods belonging to super-class and sub-class. Also observe that we can access the methods from super-class in the sub-class as if they are in the same class. e.g., The printEntertainment() method of Entertainment class is called in the print() method of the Movie class.

THINGS TO TRY
  • Add two more integer variables - totalNumberOfAudience and numberOfAudienceLiked. Create a method getLikePercentage() to calculate the like percentage. Like Percentage = 100.0 * Number Of Audience Liked / Total Number Of Audience. Make this change in the super-class Entertainment and see how all the three sub-classes - Movie, Drama and Circus - automatically inherit those variables and methods.
  • Change the printEntertainment() method in the Entertainment class, to print the details of totalNumberOfAudience, numberOfAudienceLiked and the getLikePercentage(). Also observe how making change in the super-class Entertainment impacts all the sub-classes.
The classes in the above modified program are much smaller and easily maintainable compared to the previous program. The class hierarchy of this program is as shown below.
Entertainment-class-hierarchy

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