CatDog cartoon from Nickelodeon
Introduction
Often when we learn about object oriented programming we try to find out if a particular language contains a dirty little phrase called multiple inheritance. Of course there are good reasons to try to avoid it (Diamond Problem) but sometimes you can’t. I believe that it can be used in certain contexts which can be done safely (fearing and trembling from angry purists). In Java when asked if multiple inheritance is supported the answer is “Well, Sort of” or “Yes, but…“. Java has interfaces which follows the Design by Contract concept which forces the developer to implement the interface methods. Fundamentally when we think of abstraction we think of what behavior is common across classes. Abstract classes help but tend to get bloated and some folks resort to creating NOP (No operation performed) methods. One of the major principles of object oriented programming is re-use not un-re-use while rendering an object very coupled-ygoop. It would be wonderful if you could have method re-use from an abstract data type. Well, JavaFX has this ability to do this very thing! So, to ask the question again “Does JavaFX have multiple inheritance?“. I would answer it like this: “Yes, its similar to Java’s Interfaces but with implementation details“. JavaFX uses a concept called Mixin classes which allows the developer to inherit multiple classes. Sweet!
Example
I couldn’t help but think about all kinds of cats when thinking about multiple inheritance (not to be confused with these types of cats I Can Has Cheezburger ). In a nutshell there are Big cats and Small cats.
Requirements:
- Some Big cats can roar, but all big cats can’t meow.
- Similarly small cats can meow, but all small cats can’t roar.
- All cats can purr.
In this example we will model reusable behavior as Mixins and we will also create the standard abstract classes such as “Animal” and “Cat“.
Step 1: Create Abstract Classes
abstract class Animal {
public var name:String;
public function eat(food:String){
println("munchin on {food}");
}
}
abstract public class Cat extends Animal {
public function purr(volume:Integer){
println("Purrrr...level({volume})");
}
public function scratch(){
println("Scratching...")
}
}
Step 2: Create Mixin Classes
public mixin class Roarer {
public var bass:Integer = 20;
public function roar(){
println("Roar...");
}
}
public mixin class Meower {
public var pitch:Integer = 5;
public function meow(){
println("Meow...");
}
}
Step 3: Create Derived Classes Inheriting Mixin Classes
// Cheetah's can't roar and can't meow
class Cheetah extends Cat {
}
class Lion extends Cat, Roarer{
public override var bass = 50;
public override function roar() {
println("(ROAR) I'm King of the land!!!");
}
}
class HouseCat extends Cat, Meower {
public override var pitch = 10;
public override function meow(){
println("Meow...");
}
}
Step 4: Create instances of the types of Cats
var fluffy:Cat = HouseCat{name:'fluffy'}; // regular house cat
var simba:Cat = Lion{name:'Simba'}; // Lion King cat
var chester:Cat = Cheetah{name:'Chester'}; // Cheetos' Chester
var cats:Cat[] = [fluffy, simba, chester]; // cat bus
Step 5: Create a script level function
Cat will ask to come into your house. Notice the down cast to Meower and Roarer type cats.
function letMeIntoHouse(cat:Cat){
print("LET ME IN! ");
if (cat instanceof Meower){
var meower = (cat as Meower);
meower.meow();
}
if (cat instanceof Roarer){
var roarer = (cat as Roarer);
roarer.roar();
}
cat.scratch();
}
Step 6: run() function like Java’s main()
This will loop through a sequence of cats by:
function run(){
def food:String = "tender vittles";
for (cat:Cat in cats){
letMeIntoHouse(cat);
print("The cat named {cat.name} is ");
cat.eat(food);
cat.purr(5);
}
}
Output
LET ME IN! Meow...
Scratching...
The cat named fluffy is munchin on tender vittles
Purrrr...level(5)
LET ME IN! (ROAR) I'm King of the land!!!
Scratching...
The cat named Simba is munchin on tender vittles
Purrrr...level(5)
LET ME IN! Scratching...
The cat named Chester is munchin on tender vittles
Purrrr...level(5)
Conclusion
Although this example doesn’t use Mixins in an RIA context, instead its used with simple domain objects to show multiple inheritance. Hopefully we can now answer the question when asked, “Does JavaFX have multiple inheritance?“. Is it ever a quick answer?
References:
