Introduction
OOP (Object-Oriented Programming) concepts intend to improve code readability and reusability by defining how to structure a Java program efficiently. The main principles of object-oriented programming are:
- Abstraction
- Encapsulation
- Inheritance
- Polymorphism
- Association
- Aggregation
- Composition
What is OOPs concept?
OOP concepts allow us to create specific interactions between Java objects. They make it possible to reuse code without creating security risks or making a Java program less readable.
Here are the below concepts.
1. Abstraction
Abstraction aims to hide complexity from the users and show them only the relevant information. For example, if you want to drive a car, you do not need to know about its internal workings. The same is true of Java classes. You can hide internal implementation details by using abstract classes or interfaces. On the abstract level, you only need to define the method signatures (name and parameter list) and let each class implement them in their own way.
Abstraction in Java:
- Hides the underlying complexity of data.
- Helps avoid repetitive code.
- Presents only the signature of internal functionality.
- Gives flexibility to programmers to change the implementation of the abstract behavior.
- Partial abstraction (0-100%) can be achieved with abstract classes.
- Total abstraction (100%) can be achieved with interfaces.
2. Encapsulation
Encapsulation allows us to protect the data stored in a class from system-wide access. As its name suggests, it safeguards the internal contents of a class like a real-life capsule. You can implement encapsulation in Java by keeping the fields (class variables) private and providing public getter and setter methods to each of them. Java Beans are examples of fully encapsulated classes.
Encapsulation in Java:
- Restricts direct access to data members (fields) of a class.
- Fields are set to private
- Each field has a getter and setter method
- Getter methods return the field
- Setter methods let us change the value of the field
3. Polymorphism
Polymorphism refers to the ability to perform a certain action in different ways. In Java, polymorphism can take two forms: method overloading and method overriding. Method overloading happens when various methods with the same name are present in a class. When they are called, they are differentiated by the number, order, and types of their parameters. Method overriding occurs when the child class overrides a method of its parent.
Polymorphism in Java:
- The same method name is used several times.
- Different methods of the same name can be called from the object.
- All Java objects can be considered polymorphic (at the minimum, they are of their own type and instances of the Object class).
- Example of static polymorphism in Java is method overloading.
- Example of dynamic polymorphism in Java is method overriding.
4. Inheritance
Inheritance makes it possible to create a child class that inherits the fields and methods of the parent class. The child class can override the values and methods of the parent class, however it’s not necessary. It can also add new data and functionality to its parent. Parent classes are also called super classes or base classes, while child classes are known as sub classes or derived classes as well. Java uses the extends keyword to implement the principle of inheritance in code.
Inheritance in Java:
- A class (child class) can extend another class (parent class) by inheriting its features.
- Implements the DRY (Don’t Repeat Yourself) programming principle.
- Improves code reusability.
- Multilevel inheritance is allowed in Java (a child class can have its own child class as well).
- Multiple inheritances are not allowed in Java (a class can’t extend more than one class).
5. Association
Besides the four main principles of OOP, Java also works with three further concepts (association, aggregation, composition) you can make use of when designing your programs. Aggregation is a special form of association, while composition is a special form of aggregation.
Association simply means the act of establishing a relationship between two unrelated classes. For example, when you declare two fields of different types (e.g. Car and Bicycle) within the same class and make them interact with each other, you have performed association.
Association in Java:
- Two separate classes are associated through their objects.
- The two classes are unrelated, each can exist without the other one.
- Can be a one-to-one, one-to-many, many-to-one, or many-to-many relationship.
6. Aggregation
Aggregation is a narrower kind of association. It occurs when there’s a one-way (HAS-A) relationship between the two classes you associate through their objects. For example, every Passenger has a Car but a Car doesn’t necessarily have a Passenger. When you declare the Passenger class, you can create a field of the Car type that shows which car the passenger belongs to. Then, when you instantiate a new Passenger object, you can access the data stored in the related Car as well.
Aggregation in Java:
- One-directional association.
- Represents a HAS-A relationship between two classes.
- Only one class is dependent on the other.
7. Composition
Composition is a stricter form of aggregation. It occurs when the two classes you associate are mutually dependent on each other and can’t exist without each other. For example, take a Car and an Engine class. A Car cannot run without an Engine, while an Engine also can’t function without being built into a Car. This kind of relationship between objects is also called a PART-OF relationship.
Composition in Java:
- A restricted form of aggregation.
- Represents a PART-OF relationship between two classes.
- Both classes are dependent on each other.
- If one class ceases to exist, the other can’t survive alone.
Characteristics
The real-life characteristics of the four main OOP concepts are described below i.e.abstraction, encapsulation, inheritance, and polymorphism.
Abstraction
With abstraction, you can hide the internal workings of an object and only show the features the user needs to know about. Java provides two ways to implement abstraction: abstract classes and interfaces. With abstract classes, you can achieve partial abstraction, while interfaces make total (100%) abstraction possible.
Abstract Classes:
An abstract class is a superclass (parent class) that cannot be instantiated. You need to instantiate one of its child classes if you want to create a new object. Abstract classes can have both abstract and concrete methods. Abstract methods contain only the method signature, while concrete methods declare a method body as well. Abstract classes are defined with the abstract keyword.
In the example below, you can see an abstract class called Animal with two abstract and one concrete method.
Extend the Animal abstract class with two child classes: Bird and Fish. Both of them set up their own functionality for the move() and eat() abstract methods.
Now, test it with the TestBird and TestFish classes. Both call the one concrete (label()) and the two abstract (move() and eat()) methods.
In the console, the concrete method has been called from the Animal abstract class, while the two abstract methods have been called from Bird() and Fish(), respectively.
Interfaces
An interface is a 100% abstract class. It can have only static, final, and public fields and abstract methods. It’s frequently referred to as a blueprint of a class as well. Java interfaces allow us to implement multiple inheritance in our code, as a class can implement any number of interfaces. Classes can access an interface using the implements keyword.
In the example, define two interfaces, Animal and Bird. Animal has two abstract methods, while Bird has two static fields and an abstract method.
The class Eagle implements both interfaces. It defines its own functionality for the three abstract methods. The eat() and sound() methods come from the Animal class, while fly() comes from Bird.
In the TestEagle test class, instantiate a new Eagle object (called myEagle) and print out all the fields and methods to the console.
As static fields don’t belong to a specific object but to a whole class, you need to access them from the Bird interface instead of the myEagle object.
The Java console returns all the information you wanted to access:
Encapsulation
With encapsulation, you can protect the fields of a class. To do so, declare the fields as private and providing access to them with getter and setter methods.
The Animal class below is fully encapsulated. It has three private fields and each of them has its own set of getter and setter methods.
The TestAnimal class first sets a value for each field with the setter methods, then prints out the values using the getter methods.
As you can see below, the Java console returns properly all the values you set with the setter methods:
Inheritance
Inheritance allows us to extend a class with child classes that inherit the fields and methods of the parent class. It’s an excellent way to achieve code reusability. In Java, we need to use the extends keyword to create a child class.
In the example, the Eagle class extends the Bird parent class. It inherits all of its fields and methods, plus defines two extra fields that belong only to Eagle.
The TestEagle class instantiates a new Eagle object and prints out all the information (both the inherited fields and methods and the two extra fields defined in the Eagle class).
You can see the console output below:
Polymorphism
Polymorphism makes it possible to use the same entity in different forms. In Java, this means that you can declare several methods with the same name until they are different in certain characteristics. Java provides us with two ways to implement polymorphism: method overloading and method overriding.
Static Polymorphism:
Method overloading means that you can have several methods with the same name within a class. However, the number, names, or types of their parameters need to be different.
For example, the Bird() class below has three fly() methods. The first one doesn’t have any parameters, the second one has one parameter (height), and the third one has two parameters (name and height).
The test class instantiates a new Bird object and calls the fly() method three times. Firstly, without parameters, secondly, with one integer parameter for height, and thirdly, with two parameters for name and height.
In the console, we can see that Java could have differentiated the three polymorphic fly() methods:
Dynamic Polymorphism:
By using the method overriding feature of Java, you can override the methods of a parent class from its child class.
The Bird class extends the Animal class in the example below. Both have an eat() method. By default, Bird inherits its parent’s eat() method. However, as it also defines its own eat() method, Java will override the original method and call eat() from the child class.
The TestBird class first instantiates a new Animal object and calls its eat() method. Then, it also creates a Bird object and calls the polymorphic eat() method again.
The console returns the values of the relevant methods properly. Therefore Java could have differentiated the two eat() methods indeed.
Conclusion
OOP concepts in Java define how to structure a Java problem more efficiently.