Question

If I have something like

class square : figure {}

class triangle : figure {}

Does that mean that I should never ever use the square and triangle classes but only refer to figure?

Like never do like this:

var x = new square();

Answer 1

In your case, LSP would mean that all behavior inherited from figure should be appropriate for a square or triangle. So you wouldn’t want to have setters for figure.Side1, Side2 and Side3 because those wouldn’t make sense for a square.

At some point you’ll have to refer to square or triangle, but only in cases where what you’re doing is specific to the subclass. If you’re implementing behavior that will apply equally well for all figures (maybe a Draw method), then it should accept a figure parameter rather than a square or triangle.

As an example, your classes might be set up as follows:

abstract class figure
{
    abstract void draw();
}

class triangle : figure
{
    void draw()
    {
        // ...
    }
}

class drawer
{
    void call_draw(figure fig)
    {
        fig.draw();
    }
}

As long as figure.draw() is virtual, meaning its implementation can (or must) be overriden by a subclass, you can execute triangle‘s draw() behavior even if the object is being used as a figure.