9.7 Object Superclass

Object Superclass

Learning Targets:

• What is the Object class
• Why is the Object class important to remember

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Every class and object created without the extends keyword will be implicitly extended from the Object Superclass. This means it will inherit some basic methods. Some notable methods are:

1. getClass()
2. toString()
3. equals()

So What?

Well its important to keep in mind when writing out your class. If you are planning to have a method in your class/object that matches the basic Object, then it must be a public override because all of the Object methods are public.

• are some methods from Object such as getClass() that you cannot override.

// this will return an error
class Shape {
    String toString(){
        return "Shape";
    }
}

// this will be fine
class Shape{
    @Override
    public String toString(){
        return "Shape";
    }
}

Popcorn Hacks

Create an example where you execute an unchanged method from Object, then execute a different method from Object that you changed.