Question

I’ve just now encountered the phrases “java subtype” and “true subtype”. It was given in a question in a way that makes clear that they are not the same. But I couldn’t find an explanation on what is the difference between the two.

Can someone please explain the differences between “java subtype” and “true subtype”?

Answer 1

A java subtype is any class that extends another class (or even implements an interface). A true subtype is not something language specific:

A true subtype can always be substituted for the supertype.
“Any property guaranteed by supertype must be guaranteed by subtype (true subtyping)”

http://www.cs.washington.edu/education/courses/cse331/10au/lectures/subtypingexamples.pdf

The link contains a very enlightning example. Let’s say you have a class Point2D that stores values x and y. You could now create a subtype Point3D and add a value z. If you don’t override any methods and take care with your equals and hashcode methods you could substitute a Point3D instance at any time for a Point2D instance.

This is a simple example of course. One could argue why not have only Point3D. Maybe the classes both offer some methods that can – by dividing up into to classes – be better recognized as belonging to the 2D or 3D realm. In this case it would probably be purely a design decision.

class Point2D {
   int x;
   int y;
}

//true subtype
class Point3D extends Point2D {
   int z;
}

A more complex example might arise if you take a Person class and then have two subtypes: Employee and Customer. Both Employee and Customer offer all the same fields and methods as a Person.

class Person {
   String name;
   Date birthday;

   @Override
   public boolean equals(Object o){
       //simplified equals implementation, this does not fulfill equals contract!
       return name.equals(((Person)o).name);
   }
}

//true subtype, same behaviour
class Employee extends Person {
   long departmentId;
}

//not a true subtype, different behaviour -> equals
class Customer extends Person {
   long customerId;
   Date lastContact;
   String city;

   public boolean equals(Object o){
       //simplified equals implementation, this does not fulfill equals contract!
       return customerId.equals(((Customer)o).customerId);
   }
} 

In this example Employee would be a true subtype of Person. However Customer is not a true subtype because the equals implementation differs (and presumably hashCode() as well) and it would not behave the same and could probably not be substituted for a Person object at all times.