Polymorphism in Java

Polymorphism is the ability of an object to take on many forms. The most common use of polymorphism in OOP occurs when a parent class reference is used to refer to a child class object.

Any java object that can pass more than one test is considered to be polymorphic. In Java, all java objects are polymorphic since any object will pass the test for their own type and for the class Object.

It is important to know that the only possible way to access an object is through a reference variable. A reference variable can be of only one type. Once declared the type of a reference variable cannot be changed.

The reference variable can be reassigned to other objects provided that it is not declared final. The type of the reference variable would determine the methods that it can invoke on the object.

Virtual Methods:
In this section, I will show you how the behavior of overridden methods in Java allows you to take advantage of polymorphism when designing your classes.

We already have discussed method overriding, where a child class can override a method in its parent. An overridden method is essentially hidden in the parent class, and is not invoked unless the child class uses the super keyword within the overriding method.

/* File name : Employee.java */
public class Employee
{
private String name;
private String address;
private int number;
public Employee(String name, String address, int number)
{
System.out.println("Constructing an Employee");
this.name = name;
this.address = address;
this.number = number;
}
public void mailCheck()
{
System.out.println("Mailing a check to " + this.name
+ " " + this.address);
}
public String toString()
{
return name + " " + address + " " + number;
}
public String getName()
{
return name;
}
public String getAddress()
{
return address;
}
public void setAddress(String newAddress)
{
address = newAddress;
}
public int getNumber()
{
return number;
}
}