Is it ok if a subclass implements an interface and instead of overriding the method it puts the method in the superclass (method with same name and arguments in superclass). Diagramm 1
Or is it better to implement it like in the following Diagramm 2 ?
Whether or not it is legal depends on the language you're using.
I see no reason to not implement it as shown in Diagram 2, provided AbstractSuperClass fulfills the promise of interface1.
This way any other future subclasses of AbstractSuperClass would also be able to be type-checked against interface1.
Related
Racket's documentation only partially describe what augment and pubment do: augment makes a method that executes after the superclass's version of that method, while pubment makes a method that will implicitly have the augment property if it is defined in a child class.
The docs say absolutely nothing about overment and augride, and I can't guess what they would do based on their names. What are they, and what is the difference between them?
The relatively large family of inheritance functions for Racket's class system is, as you describe, a little confusing, and their somewhat cutesy names don't always help.
In order to understand this, Racket provides two separate mechanisms for method inheritance.
public methods correspond to the classical idea of public methods in other OO models. Methods declared with public may be overridden in subclasses, unless they're declared final, in which case they cannot.
pubment methods are similar, but they cannot be overridden, only augmented. Augmenting a method is similar to overriding it, but the dispatch calls the superclass's implementation instead of the subclass's.
To clarify the difference between overriding and augmentation, when an overridden method is called, the overriding implementation is executed, which may optionally call the superclass's implementation via inherit/super. In contrast, in an augmented method, the superclass's implementation receives control, and it may optionally call the subclass's implementation via inner.
Now, we're also provided public-final, override-final, and augment-final. These are pretty simple. Declaring a method with public-final means it can neither be augmented nor overridden. Using override-final overrides a superclass's public method, but it doesn't allow any further overriding. Finally, augment-final is similar, but for methods declared with pubment, not public.
So then, what about the two weird hybrids, overment and augride?
overment can be used to implement methods initially defined with public. This "converts" them to augmentable methods instead of overridable methods for all the class's subclasses.
augride goes in the opposite direction. It converts an augmentable method to one that is overridable, but the overriding implementations only replace the augmentation, not the original implementation.
To summarize:
public, pubment, and public-final all declare methods that do not exist in a superclass.
Then we have a family of forms for extending superclass methods:
override and augment extend methods declared with public and pubment, respectively, using the relevant behaviors.
override-final and augment-final do the same as their non-final counterparts, but prevent further overriding or augmentation.
overment and augride convert overridable methods to augmentable ones and vice-versa.
For another, fuller explanation, you might be interested in taking a look at the paper from which Racket's model was derived, which is quite readable and includes some helpful diagrams.
When running FxCop I get the error that interface methods should be callable by child types.
The resolution states the following:
"Make 'MenuPreview' sealed (a breaking change if this class has previously shipped),
implement the method non-explicitly, or implement a new method that exposes
the functionality of 'IComponentConnector.Connect(int, object)'
and is visible to derived classes."
I get this for all classes the derive from Window or some other UI class. Is this a red herring that I can ignore, or is there something I should be doing?
I think the issue is that if an interface is implemented explicitly, it will be impossible for a derived class to both change the interface behavior and make use of the base-class behavior. A common pattern to get around this difficulty in cases where explicit interface implementation would be required is to have the interface do nothing but call a protected virtual method, and have any derived classes that wish to override the behavior of the interface do so by means of the protected virtual method.
Consider IDisposable.Dispose(). If the code in an explicit implementation were actually responsible for performing the disposal, there would be no way for a derived class to add its own dispose logic except by reimplementing IDisposable, and there would be no way for a class which reimplemented IDisposable to access its parent's Dispose method. Although Microsoft could have had IDisposable.Dispose call a protected function with a different name, it opted to use the same name but add a dummy parameter of type Boolean.
If a method is defined in both a class and a category on that class, it is undefined which implementation will be called.
But how does this interact with inheritance? Specifically:
Given a superclass category method and a regular method in the subclass, is it guaranteed that the subclass implementation will win when called on a member of the subclass?
Given a superclass regular method and a subclass category method trying to override it, is it guaranteed that the subclass category implementation will win when called on a member of the subclass?
Given a superclass category method and a subclass category method, is it guaranteed that the subclass category method will win when called on a member of the subclass?
Lets just put it this way. Don't override methods using categories, period, ever, end of answer.
If a method is defined in both a class and a category on that class,
it is undefined which implementation will be called.
That is incorrect; the category method will always win. What won't work, though, is if you have multiple categories that implement the same method, then the "which one wins" is undefined.
It is generally "last loaded wins", but that really isn't a hard rule, either.
Note that since many classes will internally have their implementation dividing across categories for code organization purposes, you can't rely on the first rule anyway.
In short, what Joshua said; Do not override methods using categories.
Beyond the inheritance reasons, you are also viciously breaking encapsulation when you do so. It isn't that a category based implementation overrides an existing method, it entirely replaces it. Thus, if you don't reproduce every last internal implementation detail, including bugs, your replacement won't quite work right and debugging it will be hard.
From what I test
Given a superclass category method and a regular method in the
subclass, is it guaranteed that the subclass implementation will win
when called on a member of the subclass? => subclass wins
Given a superclass regular method and a subclass category method
trying to override it, is it guaranteed that the subclass category
implementation will win when called on a member of the subclass? =>
subclass category wins
Given a superclass category method and a subclass category method,
is it guaranteed that the subclass category method will win when
called on a member of the subclass? => subclass category wins
Take a look at the Test category and subclass
Coming from a C++ background, one thing that confuses me about Objective C is the fact that you can add a method to a class without actually specifying it in the class interface. So I had a barrage of questions:
Why would someone choose to not add the method in the class interface?
Is it simply because of visibility?
Methods without a declaration in the interface are private?
Is declaring methods in a class interface just optional?
Is it different for overriding a base class' method?
The main difference is that C++ sets up much of its inheritance and types at compile time and Objective C does it mostly at runtime.
The only differences in putting a method in the interface (if all parameters are objects) in objective-C are that the compiler can see it at compile time and check that an object could respond to the method - if it does not then you get a warning but the compilation does succeed and the program will run and loo for the method at runtime. If the method is in the implementation of the class or a category (or some other way) then the run time will find it and call it successfully.
There are NO private methods you can call any method.
I believe that this is the only way to create private methods in Objective-C. The language does not support the ability to declare a private method so by not declaring a method in the header file you are making private from all callers.
Proper data encapsulation requires that you lock down access to members that either expose data or manipulates it. Not all members ought to be exposed.
Yes it is.
Yes, this is true.
Yes, this is true as well.
This I am not sure about - perhaps someone with more Objective-C knowledge could answer this one.
Extending Andrew Hare's answer to answer 5, no, it doesn't: whether declared in an #interface or otherwise, method replacement/refinement works the same.
I have a class which is intended to be abstract. This means: When someone subclasses it, a few methods MUST be overwritten.
But on the other hand, those methods are not intended to be called manually from anywhere except inside the abstract class (the superclass of the subclass).
Must I declare these methods in .h anyways or can I just add comments in .h which say "you must overwrite -foo and -bar"? Or is there a better pattern to make abstract methods?
Related: Is there a way to create an abstract class in Objective C?
Objective-C doesn't actually have a way to declare a class as abstract. From Apple's Docs:
Abstract Classes
Some classes are designed only or
primarily so that other classes can
inherit from them. These abstract
classes group methods and instance
variables that can be used by a number
of different subclasses into a common
definition. The abstract class is
typically incomplete by itself, but
contains useful code that reduces the
implementation burden of its
subclasses. (Because abstract classes
must have subclasses to be useful,
they’re sometimes also called abstract
superclasses.)
Unlike some other languages,
Objective-C does not have syntax to
mark classes as abstract, nor does it
prevent you from creating an instance
of an abstract class.
The NSObject class is the canonical
example of an abstract class in Cocoa.
You never use instances of the
NSObject class in an application—it
wouldn’t be good for anything; it
would be a generic object with the
ability to do nothing in particular.
The NSView class, on the other hand,
provides an example of an abstract
class instances of which you might
occasionally use directly.
Abstract classes often contain code
that helps define the structure of an
application. When you create
subclasses of these classes, instances
of your new classes fit effortlessly
into the application structure and
work automatically with other objects.
So to answer your question, yes, you need to place the method signature in the header, and should implement the method in the base class such that it generates an error if called, like the related question's answer states.
You can also use a protocol to force classes to implement certain methods.
However you choose to implement the base class, clearly document in the header, as well as in your documentation, exactly what the class assumes and how to go about sub-classing it correctly.
Whenever possible write your code so that improper implementations fail to compile. If you cannot do that then you should try to generate a runtime error (at the very least in a debug build) if the subclass is not written correctly. Do not rely on comments because people will not read them.
You must declare your "protected" and "abstract" methods in a header file, but you can use separate categories to clearly indicate their purpose and intended use.
#interface MyBaseClass : NSObject {
}
- (void)foo;
#end
#interface MyBaseClass(ProtectedMethods)
- (void)bar;
#end
#interface MyBaseClass(AbstractMethods) // Subclasses must implement
- (void)internalBar;
#end
You can put everything in a single header, or you could put your protected and abstract declarations in a separate "protected" header, say MyClassProtected.h, meant to be included only by your subclass implementations. It depends on how badly you want "hide" your protected methods.
Your base class can log, assert, or throw when an abstract/pure-virtual method is called.
As other people have said, Objective-C does not support pure virtual classes.
You can enforce pure virtual behaviour at runtime though. The cleanest way to do this is by using the Objective-C runtime's _cmd and NSObject's -doesNotRecognizeSelector:
- (void)iMustBeImplementedInaSubclass;
{
[self doesNotRecognizeSelector:_cmd]; // Pure virtual
}
As ben says you are probably better served by using a protocol to get your API design right.