What are best practices for working with inheritance?

Working with inheritance in Java can greatly enhance code reuse and organization. Here are some best practices:

  • Favor Composition over Inheritance: Use composition when appropriate to create more flexible designs.
  • Use Abstract Classes and Interfaces: Define common behavior that can be shared among derived classes without the need for direct inheritance.
  • Keep Inheritance Hierarchies Shallow: Avoid deep inheritance trees to prevent complexity and confusion.
  • Use 'super' Wisely: When overriding methods, use 'super' to call the parent class's method as needed.
  • Document Inheritance Relationships: Clearly document the purpose and use of inheritance to facilitate understanding for other developers.
  • Override Wisely: Carefully consider which methods need to be overridden and ensure that overrides maintain expected behavior.

Java Inheritance Best Practices Object-Oriented Programming Composition Abstract Classes Interfaces