Polymorphism

Agenda

• What is & Why Polymorphism?

• Polymorphism Examples.
• Dynamic binding.
What is & Why
Polymorphism?
 What is Polymorphism

• Generally, polymorphism refers to the ability to appear

in many forms.
• In java
• Allows multiple objects of different subclasses to be treated
as objects of a single super class, while automatically
selecting the proper methods to apply to a particular object
based on the subclass it belongs to

3-4
 Polymorphism Example

• For example, given a base class shape, polymorphism

enables the programmer to define different area
methods for any number of derived classes, such as
circles, rectangles and triangles.
• No matter what shape an object is, applying the area
method to it will return the correct results.

3-5
Polymorphism Examples
 Example 1: Polymorphism

• When parent class reference is used to refer to a

child class object.
• Given the parent class Person and the child class
Student, we add another subclass of Person which is
Employee.
• Below is the class hierarchy

3-7
 Example 1: Polymorphism

• Now suppose we have a printName method in our

super class Person, and we override this method in
both Student and Employee subclass's.
• public class Student extends Person {
public void printName(){
System.out.println("Student Name" );
}}
• public class Employee extends Person {
public void printName(){
System.out.println("Employee Name" );
}}

3-8
 Example 1: Polymorphism

• In Java, we can create a reference that is of type super

class, Person, to an object of its subclass, Student.
• public static main( String[] args ) {
Student studentObject = new Student();
Employee employeeObject = new Employee();
// Person reference point to a Student object
Person ref = studentObject;
// Calling printName() of the Student object instance
ref.printName();
}

3-9
 Example 1: Polymorphism

• Going back to our main method, when we try to call

the printName method of the reference Person ref,
the printName method of the Student object will be
called.

• Now, if we assign ref to an Employee object, the

printName method of Employee will be called.

3-10
 Example 2: Polymorphism

• Another example that illustrates polymorphism is

when we try to pass a reference to methods as a
parameter.
• Suppose we have a static method printlnformation
that takes in a Person reference as parameter.

public static void printInformation( Person p ){

// It will call printName() method of the
// actual object instance that is passed
p.printName();
}

3-11
 Example 2: Polymorphism

• We can actually pass a reference of type Employee

and type Student to the printInformation method as
long as it is a subclass of the Person class.

public static main( String[] args ) {

Student studentObject = new Student();
Employee employeeObject = new Employee();
printInformation( studentObject );
printInformation( employeeObject ); Output:
Student Name
Employee Name

3-12
Dynamic binding
 Static and dynamic binding

Static binding:
• Which Method will be invocated will be
determined at compile time.
Dynamic binding:
• Which Method will be invocated will be
determined at runtime time.

3-14
Static and dynamic binding

What happen when I make thing like

this?
Animal a=new Horse();
a.eat();//will call which one
a.buck();
3-15
 Static and dynamic binding

Note :
• Method invocations allowed by the compiler are
based solely on the declared type of the
reference, regardless of the object type
• Which overridden version of the method to call (in
other words, from which class in the inheritance
tree) is decided at runtime based on object type

3-16
Static and dynamic binding

Compiler
error

3-17
Questions
Thanks