Question

When is it wise to use polymorphism over Inheritance?

So, let’s say we have

public class Lion extends Animals {} ;

OR

Animals ani = new Lion();

I would mostly prefer inheritance, since we have solid class to use.

Does it come down to which one runs faster?

Answer 1

There is no Or to that.

public class Lion extends Animals {} ;

defines a class Lion, that descends from a class animal

Animals ani = new Lion();

defines an variable ani of type Animals and assigns a new instance of Lion to it.

If Lion didn’t descend from Animals, then you’d get a error, is about all we can say.