Covariant Return Type
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Covariant Return Type
In object-oriented programming, a covariant return type of a method is one that can be replaced by a "narrower" type when the method is overridden in a subclass. A notable language in which this is a fairly common paradigm is C++. C# supports return type covariance as of version 9.0. Covariant return types have been (partially) allowed in the Java language since the release of JDK5.0,bridge Methods
were introduced to circumvent problems introduced by polymorphism and the new generic type erasure so the following example wouldn't compile on a previous release: // Classes used as return types: class A class B extends A // "Class B is narrower than class A" // Classes demonstrating method overriding: class C class D extends C More specifically, covariant ( ...
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Object-oriented Programming
Object-oriented programming (OOP) is a programming paradigm based on the concept of "objects", which can contain data and code. The data is in the form of fields (often known as attributes or ''properties''), and the code is in the form of procedures (often known as ''methods''). A common feature of objects is that procedures (or methods) are attached to them and can access and modify the object's data fields. In this brand of OOP, there is usually a special name such as or used to refer to the current object. In OOP, computer programs are designed by making them out of objects that interact with one another. OOP languages are diverse, but the most popular ones are class-based, meaning that objects are instances of classes, which also determine their types. Many of the most widely used programming languages (such as C++, Java, Python, etc.) are multi-paradigm and they support object-oriented programming to a greater or lesser degree, typically in combination with imper ...
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Method Overriding (programming)
Method overriding, in object-oriented programming, is a language feature that allows a subclass or child class to provide a specific implementation of a method that is already provided by one of its superclasses or parent classes. In addition to providing data-driven algorithm-determined parameters across virtual network interfaces, it also allows for a specific type of polymorphism (subtyping). The implementation in the subclass overrides (replaces) the implementation in the superclass by providing a method that has same name, same parameters or signature, and same return type as the method in the parent class.Flanagan 2002, p. 107 The version of a method that is executed will be determined by the object that is used to invoke it. If an object of a parent class is used to invoke the method, then the version in the parent class will be executed, but if an object of the subclass is used to invoke the method, then the version in the child class will be executed.Lewis & Loftus 2006, ...
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Java (programming Language)
Java is a high-level, class-based, object-oriented programming language that is designed to have as few implementation dependencies as possible. It is a general-purpose programming language intended to let programmers ''write once, run anywhere'' ( WORA), meaning that compiled Java code can run on all platforms that support Java without the need to recompile. Java applications are typically compiled to bytecode that can run on any Java virtual machine (JVM) regardless of the underlying computer architecture. The syntax of Java is similar to C and C++, but has fewer low-level facilities than either of them. The Java runtime provides dynamic capabilities (such as reflection and runtime code modification) that are typically not available in traditional compiled languages. , Java was one of the most popular programming languages in use according to GitHub, particularly for client–server web applications, with a reported 9 million developers. Java was originally developed ...
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Liskov Substitution Principle
The Liskov substitution principle (LSP) is a particular definition of a subtyping relation, called strong behavioral subtyping, that was initially introduced by Barbara Liskov in a 1988 conference keynote address titled ''Data abstraction and hierarchy''. It is based on the concept of "substitutability" a principle in object-oriented programming stating that an object (such as a class) may be replaced by a sub-object (such as a class that extends the first class) without breaking the program. It is a semantic rather than merely syntactic relation, because it intends to guarantee semantic interoperability of types in a hierarchy, object types in particular. Barbara Liskov and Jeannette Wing described the principle succinctly in a 1994 paper as follows: ''Subtype Requirement'': Let be a property provable about objects of type . Then should be true for objects of type where is a subtype of . Symbolically: :S <: T \to (\forall xT) \phi(x) \to (\forall yS) \phi(y) That ...
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UML Covariant Return Type
The Unified Modeling Language (UML) is a general-purpose, developmental modeling language in the field of software engineering that is intended to provide a standard way to visualize the design of a system. The creation of UML was originally motivated by the desire to standardize the disparate notational systems and approaches to software design. It was developed at Rational Software in 1994–1995, with further development led by them through 1996. In 1997, UML was adopted as a standard by the Object Management Group (OMG), and has been managed by this organization ever since. In 2005, UML was also published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) as an approved ISO standard. Since then the standard has been periodically revised to cover the latest revision of UML. In software engineering, most practitioners do not use UML, but instead produce informal hand drawn diagrams; these diagrams, however, often include elements from UML. History Before UML 1 ...
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Covariance And Contravariance (computer Science)
Many programming language type systems support subtyping. For instance, if the type is a subtype of , then an expression of type should be substitutable wherever an expression of type is used. Variance refers to how subtyping between more complex types relates to subtyping between their components. For example, how should a list of s relate to a list of s? Or how should a function that returns relate to a function that returns ? Depending on the variance of the type constructor, the subtyping relation of the simple types may be either preserved, reversed, or ignored for the respective complex types. In the OCaml programming language, for example, "list of Cat" is a subtype of "list of Animal" because the list type constructor is covariant. This means that the subtyping relation of the simple types are preserved for the complex types. On the other hand, "function from Animal to String" is a subtype of "function from Cat to String" because the function type constructor is contr ...
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