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Java

Brendan Whiting
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Brendan Whiting
Front End Web Development Techdegree Graduate 84,735 Points
Posted by Brendan Whiting
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Brendan Whiting
Front End Web Development Techdegree Graduate 84,735 Points

Subclass/superclass/base class - I'm confused

I'm confused. If we're thinking about inheritance visually, is the "original" on the top or on the bottom? Is a base class the same as a super class?

2 Answers

Grigorij Schleifer
Grigorij Schleifer
10,365 Points
Grigorij Schleifer
Grigorij Schleifer
10,365 Points

Hi Brendan,

In an OOP language, the base class is a class from which other classes are derived from.

The top-most "base" class, the class from which all other classes are derived, is the Object class defined in java.lang. Object is the root/base of a hierarchy of classes but in many illustrations you will see the Object class shown above of all classes at the top.

General the class that is derived from another class is called a subclass. The class from which it's derived is called the superclass. So the subclass is "under" the superclass. So the father of all superclasses is the Object class.

Grigorij

Rob B
Rob B
11,677 Points
Rob B
Rob B
11,677 Points

Think of it like this: Base Class is the Parent. a Subclass is the Child. Think of it just like family lines. You might have "Grandparents", or even "Great Grandedchildren"

Just like with genetics, certain things are inherited. What this really breaks down to is that by declaring variables, modules/methods/functions, and so on in a Base Class, the Subclass doesn't have to re-declare any of those if you still want to use them.