• Post Reply Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic
programming forums Java Mobile Certification Databases Caching Books Engineering Micro Controllers OS Languages Paradigms IDEs Build Tools Frameworks Application Servers Open Source This Site Careers Other Pie Elite all forums
this forum made possible by our volunteer staff, including ...
Marshals:
  • Campbell Ritchie
  • Jeanne Boyarsky
  • Ron McLeod
  • Paul Clapham
  • Liutauras Vilda
Sheriffs:
  • paul wheaton
  • Rob Spoor
  • Devaka Cooray
Saloon Keepers:
  • Stephan van Hulst
  • Tim Holloway
  • Carey Brown
  • Frits Walraven
  • Tim Moores
Bartenders:
  • Mikalai Zaikin

Inheritance of private method ?

 
Ranch Hand
Posts: 34
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Hello,

i am preparing for java SE certification exam and playing a little bit with the code. From the theory :
- private methods are not inherited (and therefore cannot be overriden)
- non static class methods cannot be executed without instance of the class

in this sample code I have Parent and Child classes, Parent has a private method test(), Child extends Parent, but since the only non static method in Parent class is private, Child doesn't inherit it. In the Parent's main method I execute test() method on reference (type Parent), which reffers to Child instance. How is it possible that Parent's test() method is executed without instance of Parent?

 
Bartender
Posts: 4568
9
  • Likes 2
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Hi Viktor. Welcome to The Ranch!

It's not true that a private method is not inherited. It just isn't visible to the subclass. But as you've demonstrated, it can be called if it is visible.

I'd avoid ever doing that in practice, though. It's fine for trying things out, but it's a poor design for a superclass to know anything about its subclasses.
 
Bartender
Posts: 10780
71
Hibernate Eclipse IDE Ubuntu
  • Likes 2
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator

Viktor Kubinec wrote:How is it possible that Parent's test() method is executed without instance of Parent?


But you do have an instance of Parent. You made one with the line:
Parent p = new Child();

What you could NOT do is write:
Child p = new Child();
p.test();


HIH

Winston
 
Viktor Kubinec
Ranch Hand
Posts: 34
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Thanks a lot for quick and accurate answers ;)
 
Bartender
Posts: 6109
6
Android IntelliJ IDE Java
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator

Matthew Brown wrote:
It's not true that a private method is not inherited.



Sorry, but it is true.

From JLS 8.2 Class Members: "Members of a class that are declared private are not inherited by subclasses of that class."
 
Jeff Verdegan
Bartender
Posts: 6109
6
Android IntelliJ IDE Java
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator

Winston Gutkowski wrote:
But you do have an instance of Parent.



@Victor: Just to clarify a bit: What Winston says here is correct, but make sure you understand that you have ONE object. That object IS A Child, IS A Parent, IS AN Object, and IS A whatever other classes it extends or interfaces it implements.
 
reply
    Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic