Inheritance vs Composition
Explore the distinctions between inheritance and composition in Java. Understand why inheritance can create fragile software across package boundaries and how composition offers a safer alternative. Learn best practices for class design, including when to use inheritance, avoiding overriding issues in constructors, and how to prevent unsafe subclassing. This lesson helps you improve your object-oriented design skills in practical Java development.
We'll cover the following...
Notes on Inheritance vs Composition
Class (not interface) inheritance may be inappropriate across package boundaries since the subclass will need to evolve alongside the superclass and is prone to breaking if the superclass undergoes changes. The resulting software is fragile and less maintainable.
Composition is an alternative to inheritance. Composition works by passing ...