I'm aware of two differences between Abstract classes and Interfaces in Kotlin:
An abstract class can have state (e.g. var...)
A class can implement multiple interfaces, but not multiple abstract classes.
Since Kotlin is a rather fresh language, I wonder why Abstract Classes were not abandoned? Interfaces seem superior tool, with a very little need for Abstract Classes.
To elaborate: Kotlin does support concrete function implementation in interfaces, e.g.:
interface Shiny {
fun shine(amount : Int) // abstract function
fun reflect(s : String) { print ("**$s**") } // concrete function
}
Can someone provide a strong practical example of the need for Abstract Classes?
The practical side of abstract classes is that you can encapsulate a part of implementation that works with the state, so that it cannot be overridden in the derived classes.
In an interface, you can only define a property without a backing field, and an implementation class must override that property (with either a backing field or custom accessors).
Given that, you cannot define logic that stores some state in an interface in a reliable way: an implementation class might override the properties in an unexpected way.
Example:
interface MyContainer {
var size: Int
fun add(item: MyItem) {
// ...
size = size + 1
}
}
Here, we provide a default implementation for add that increments size. But it might break if an implementing class is defined like this:
class MyContainerImpl : MyContainer {
override val size: Int
get() = 0
set(value) { println("Just ignoring the $value") }
}
On contrary, abstract classes support this use case and thus allow you to provide some guarantees and contract for all their implementations: they can define some state and its transitions that will stay the same in a derived class.
Apart from that, abstract classes can have non-public API (internal, protected) and final members, whereas interfaces cannot (they can only have private members, which can be used in the default implementations), and all their default implementations can be overridden in the classes.
Abstract classes exist essentially for a hierarchy of classes. For example, if the abstract parent class had a concrete function that was also defined in the child class which extends the parent class, then in certain cases it would be necessary to call the parent's function. When you use an interface it is impossible to do so due to the entirely abstract nature of the class.
Related
I have a class with a function like so:
#Component
class UpdateService(
private val storeGateway: UpdateStoreGateway,
private val loadGateway: UpdateLoadGateway,
private val updateNotify: UpdateNotify,
) : UpdateStorage {
override fun delete(key: UpdateKey) {
if (loadGateway.loadByKey(key) != null)
storeGateway.delete(key)
updateNotify.deleted()
}
}
}
UpdateStoreGateway, UpdateLoadGateway and UpdateNotify are Interfaces. Since I'm new to Kotlin I can't quite grasp how the method override fun delete(key: UpdateKey) knows which implementation of the methods to take since there is no mention of the implementation class.
It's implementing all three!
An interface requires that all implementing clases must provide method(s) with the required signature(s). (That is: having the required name, and taking the required parameter type(s).) But there are no restrictions on where that method is defined: it could be in the implementing class, or inherited from a superclass. And similarly, there are no restrictions on a method implementing more than one interface, if the signature matches.
All that matters is that users of the class know they can call the method(s) specified in all implemented interfaces; they shouldn't know or care about the details.
With Kotlin 1.5 was introduce the sealed interface. Even that I know the difference between classes and interfaces, I'm not clear what are the best practices and beneficies of using sealed interface over sealed class
Should I always use interface now even when is a simple case? Or will be a case by case?
Thanks
Obs: Didn't found similar questions, only about sealed classes
A major reason to choose to use a sealed class instead of interface would be if there is common property/function that you don't want to be public. All members of an interface are always public.
The restriction that members must be public can be worked around on an interface using extension functions/properties, but only if it doesn't involve storing state non-publicly.
Otherwise, sealed interfaces are more flexible because they allow a subtype to be a subclass of something else, an enum class, or a subtype of multiple sealed interface/class hierarchies.
I would also add that sealed interface can be chosen instead of a class to mark an object with additional characteristics and use it in the when statement. For example let's say we have some number of classes that inherited from a sealed class Device:
sealed class DeviceItem(val name: String) {
object Camera : DeviceItem("Camera")
object Lamp : DeviceItem("Lamp")
// ... etc, more devices
}
And we need to use an instance of DeviceItem in when statement, but we don't want to handle all the items, only specific items:
fun onDeviceItemClicked(item: DeviceItem) {
when (item) {
// ....
}
}
In this case we should either add all device items to the when statement with an empty body for devices that we don't want to handle, and the code becomes cumbersome, or use else statement to handle those device items with the empty body. But if we use else we will not be notified of the error, when a new device item is added and requires some handling, which can lead to bugs. Starting from Kotlin 1.7 it will be a compilation error if when operator is not exhaustive. So basically to handle such cases we can provide a sealed interface and handle only items, which implement it:
sealed interface ClickableItem
sealed class DeviceItem(val name: String) {
object Camera : DeviceItem("Camera"), ClickableItem
object Lamp : DeviceItem("Lamp")
// ... etc, more devices
}
fun onDeviceItemClicked(item: ClickableItem) {
when (item) {
Camera -> { /* do something */ }
}
}
In this case when a new device item, which implements ClickableItem interface, is added there will be a compilation error, saying that when statement should be exhaustive and we must handle it.
I am implementing a library following a template method design pattern. It involves creating costly IO connection. To avoid any resource leaks, i want to enforce singleton instance on abstract class level. client just need to override the method which involves logic.
how can i do with kotlin?
abstract class SingletonConnection{
fun start(){ /* code */ }
fun connect(){ /* code */ }
abstract fun clientLogic()
}
If class A extends this, it should be singleton class. not allowed to initialise multiple times. how to do in kotlin?
Unfortunately, there is no way to enforce that only objects (singletons in Kotlin) can inherit from a certain abstract/open class or interface in Kotlin. object declaration is just syntactic sugar for a regular class with a Singleton pattern.
I know it's not much, but I guess you can achieve this to a certain degree by adding documentation, asking users to implement this class by Singletons alone.
By the way, I would use an interface instead of an abstract class for this purpose.
Instead of creating abstract class just change the code like this:-
object SingletonConnection{
fun start(){ /* code */ }
fun connect(){ /* code */ }
fun clientLogic()
}
It will provide the same implementation which you want to achieve using abstract class.
Also get the method using this code:-
SingletonConnection.start()
The Code A is from the project android/architecture-components-samples.
The author place the code of instance a class DefaultServiceLocator in the interface ServiceLocator.
In my mind , normally a interface should not include any implement code.
Is it a good idea to place the code of instance a class in a interface in Kotlin?
Code A
interface ServiceLocator {
companion object {
private val LOCK = Any()
private var instance: ServiceLocator? = null
fun instance(context: Context): ServiceLocator {
synchronized(LOCK) {
if (instance == null) {
instance = DefaultServiceLocator(
app = context.applicationContext as Application,
useInMemoryDb = false)
}
return instance!!
}
}
/**
* Allows tests to replace the default implementations.
*/
#VisibleForTesting
fun swap(locator: ServiceLocator) {
instance = locator
}
}
...
}
open class DefaultServiceLocator(val app: Application, val useInMemoryDb: Boolean) : ServiceLocator {
...
}
In my mind , normally a interface should not include any implement code.
Welcome back from hibernation ;) Yes, you could achieve the same with interface + abstract class but you can have default implementation also as part of the interface for some time now in many languages. Which way you go is up to you, but if you have only one abstract class implementing your interface then it is often handy to be able to merge this into one file for sake of ease of future maintenance.
As per kotlin interfaces documentation:
Interfaces in Kotlin can contain declarations of abstract methods, as well as method implementations. What makes them different from abstract classes is that interfaces cannot store state. They can have properties but these need to be abstract or to provide accessor implementations.
So... there's no problem in using method implementations on the interfaces. That feature might offer you extra power (if you like and need to use it).
While i am reading document of Kotlin, i saw that we should avoid using open properties declared at base class:
It means that, by the time of the base class constructor execution, the properties declared or overridden in the derived class are not yet initialized. If any of those properties are used in the base class initialization logic (either directly or indirectly, through another overridden open member implementation), it may lead to incorrect behavior or a runtime failure. When designing a base class, you should therefore avoid using open members in the constructors, property initializers, and init blocks.
The document said that properties in derived class are not yet initialized when base class's constructor is called. But, how can we access derived class's properties which are not initialized, from base class constructor(I assumed that the incorrect behavior or a runtime failure were caused by this situation)? Is it possible?
I don't know kotlin, but I'm assuming that open is the same as virtual in other languages. It is unsafe to call virtual members in a base class constructor because the base constructor is called before the derived constructor. If the overridden property requires that the derived class be fully initialized it can cause errors because the derived constructor has not yet been called when you are inside the base constructor. At least that is the way it works in .NET languages like C#.
Open functions in Kotlin are functions which can be overridden by a subclass. Generally, it's a good practice to limit a class's inheritance because you should provide a class with it's necessary codes to make it overridable. If your intention is not to let a class to override your base class, then you should make it final. So Kotlin make this easy by making each class and method final by default. You can find a more detailed answer in the Objects and Class chapter of the book Kotlin in Action.
The so-called fragile base class problem occurs when modifications of a base class
can cause incorrect behavior of subclasses because the changed code of the base class no
longer matches the assumptions in its subclasses. If the class doesn’t provide exact rules
for how it should be subclassed (which methods are supposed to be overridden and how),
the clients are at risk of overriding the methods in a way the author of the base class
didn’t expect. Because it’s impossible to analyze all the subclasses, the base class is
"fragile" in the sense that any change in it may lead to unexpected changes of behavior in
subclasses.
To protect against this problem, Effective Java by Joshua Bloch (Addison-Wesley,
2008), one of the best-known books on good Java programming style, recommends that
you "design and document for inheritance or else prohibit it." This means all classes and
methods that aren’t specifically intended to be overridden in subclasses need to be
explicitly marked as final .
Kotlin follows the same philosophy. Whereas Java’s classes and methods are open by
default, Kotlin’s are final by default.
I assume you are asking about this example in Kotlin documentation:
open class Base(val name: String) {
init { println("Initializing a base class") }
open val size: Int =
name.length.also { println("Initializing size in the base class: $it") }
}
class Derived(
name: String,
val lastName: String,
) : Base(name.replaceFirstChar { it.uppercase() }.also { println("Argument for the base class: $it") }) {
init { println("Initializing a derived class") }
override val size: Int =
(super.size + lastName.length).also { println("Initializing size in the derived class: $it")
}
}
Kotlin designers followed good practices learned, from other language mistakes, so they made class, properties, and functions closed by default for overriding or inheriting. why?
let's add the open modifier to the base class property and override it:
open class Base(open val name: String) {
init { println("Initializing a base class") }
open val size: Int =
name.length.also { println("Initializing size in the base class: $it") }
}
class Derived(
override val name: String,
val lastName: String,
) : Base(name.replaceFirstChar { it.uppercase() }.also { println("Argument for the base class: $it") }) {
init { println("Initializing a derived class") }
override val size: Int =
(super.size + lastName.length).also { println("Initializing size in the derived class: $it") }
}
fun main() {
println("Constructing the derived class(\"hello\", \"world\")")
Derived("hello", "world")
}
if you run this code the output will be like below:
Constructing the derived class("hello", "world")
Argument for the base class: Hello
Initializing a base class
**Exception in thread "main" java.lang.NullPointerException
at Base.<init> (File.kt:6)
at Derived.<init> (File.kt:12)
at FileKt.main (File.kt:23)**
The error is happening because this line of code
open val size: Int =
name.length.also { println("Initializing size in the base class: $it") }
Why? when we were trying to initialize the Derived class, first the superclass is initialized first, so the initialization is done by evaluating the super constructor argument, then the properties and init blocks in their declaration order in the class.
when it comes to val size: Int = name.length.also{...} the initialization calls the name property which is overridden by the Derived class, the one that does NOT yet initialize.
so by avoiding marking the base properties by open, you protect the base class client from abusing the class.