2.26 Changed WordLibrary from an Abstract Class to an Interface

Juppies 2 by Dr Heinz M. Kabutz

We now want to change the WordLibrary from an abstract class to an interface. Prior to Java 8, interfaces could not have any methods with actual code bodies. The reason is that it is possible for a class to implement several interfaces. If more than one has a method with the same name and parameter types, which one should be used? We call this multiple inheritance, and it caused issues in C++. The good news is that Java 8 allows us to use method bodies in interfaces. The bad news is that you might not get a chance to code Java 8 in the "real world" for a while still. Even in the year 2020, where Java 14 was already around, some companies were still using Java 6. We might find companies still coding in Java 1.4. Or we might get really unlucky and get stranded at an organization coding in Java 1.1. That's life. Don't be shocked. Even though we have some beautiful features in modern Java, it takes effort to move to the newer versions and sometimes organizations find it more trouble than worth to upgrade. They fall further and further behind and when they do eventually change, it is a painful process.

In this course we are using at least Java 14, and right now Java 17 has already been released. By all means use Java 17 if you like.

Let's do the change:

1. Change the class definition to interface instead of abstract class.
2. Methods are automatically public abstract, so let's take away those redundant modifiers.
3. Change the isCorrect() method to have modifier default instead of public. The method is automatically public if written inside an interface. If we want it to have a method body, we have to add the default modifier. Note: Since Java 9 we can also have private methods declared inside interfaces, although up to now I have never needed that.
4. Change our concrete word libraries StaticWordLibrary and ShuffledWordLibrary to say implements WordLibrary instead of extends WordLibrary. When a class implements an interface, we use implements, and when it extends a class we use extends. When an interface extends another interface we also use extends.

We run our game, which also runs our tests.

Whenever possible, we should use interfaces instead of abstract classes. One thing that an abstract class can do, which an interface cannot do, is to contain fields. If we declare a field inside an interface it will automatically be public static final, just like a constant. An abstract class can contain data just like a normal class.

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Table of Contents

• 0.1: Programming is a team sport - source control
• 0.2: Creating an account on GitHub
• 0.3: Forking the Juppies2 repository from kabutz
• 0.4: Oracle JDK
• 0.5: Oracle OpenJDK
• 0.6: Azul's Zulu OpenJDK
• 0.7: Installing the Oracle OpenJDK
• 0.8: Integrated Development Environments (IDEs)
• 0.9: Downloading Apache NetBeans
• 0.10: Loading our Juppies2 Project in Apache NetBeans
• 0.11: Running the AnagramGame with Apache NetBeans
• 0.12: Downloading IntelliJ IDEA Community Edition
• 0.13: Installing IntelliJ IDEA Community Edition
• 0.14: Running the AnagramGame with IntelliJ IDEA Community Edition
• 0.15: Downloading and Installing Eclipse
• 0.16: Running the AnagramGame with Eclipse
• 1.1: AnagramGame Project Structure
• 1.2: WordLibrary
• 1.3: Swing User Interface (UI)
• 1.4: Buffer Overflows
• 1.5: Demo of New Word Button
• 1.6: Demo of Guess Button
• 1.7: StaticWordLibrary Structure
• 1.8: StaticWordLibrary Details
• 1.9: Changing the Size of Our StaticWordLibrary
• 1.10: How my Buffer Overflow Wiped my Colleague's Hard Disk
• 1.11: Adding Our Own Words to the StaticWordLibrary
• 1.12: WordLibraryTest With JUnit
• 1.13: Java's For Loop
• 1.14: Testing That Words Are Anagrams
• 1.15: Running JUnit
• 1.16: isAnagram() Method
• 1.17: Fixing StaticWordLibrary
• 1.18: WordLibraries Facade
• 1.19: Find Usages
• 1.20: Exercise
• 1.21: Commiting Changes
• 1.22: GitHub Repository
• 1.23: Pushing Commits to Remote Repository on GitHub
• 1.24: Until Next Time
• 2.1: Welcome back
• 2.2: Setting up NetBeans Git Toolbar
• 2.3: Creating a Git Branch for Today's Session
• 2.4: Typical Directory Structure Under Maven
• 2.5: NetBeans Magic Shortcuts
• 2.6: Avoid Copy & Paste Programming
• 2.7: Creating a ShuffledWordLibrary
• 2.8: Integer Array for Shuffled Indexes
• 2.9: Finishing the methods to delegate to the other WordLibrary
• 2.10: Trying out the "ShuffledWordLibrary" That Does Not Really Shuffle
• 2.11: Committing Our Changes to Git
• 2.12: Shuffling the Integer Array
• 2.13: Trying Out the Shuffled Anagram List
• 2.14: Committing our "shuffle" method
• 2.15: ArrayShuffler
• 2.16: Creating an ArrayShufflerTest
• 2.17: Printing the indexes array
• 2.18: Fixing Random to be more random
• 2.19: Extending the Tests
• 2.20: The Goat, The Wolf and The Cabbage (Swapping Integer Values)
• 2.21: Testing the Integer Swapping Code
• 2.22: Testing Before Running Application
• 2.23: Fixing the Integer Swapping Code
• 2.24: Integer Swapping With XOR
• 2.25: Value of Source Control Systems
• 2.26: Changed WordLibrary from an Abstract Class to an Interface
• 2.27: Commit and Push
• 2.28: Until Next Time
• 3.1: Welcome back
• 3.2: Create a new Git Branch
• 3.3: ScrambledWordLibrary
• 3.4: SortedScrambledWordLibrary
• 3.5: Committing Entire Project At Once
• 3.6: Creating a RandomScrambledWordLibrary
• 3.7: Adding a shuffle(char[]) method
• 3.8: Testing the shuffle() method
• 3.9: Scrambler Strategy Extracted
• 3.10: Rot13Scrambler
• 3.11: OriginalScrambler
• 3.12: Moving Scrambler Interface Into ScrambledWordLibary Using IntelliJ IDEA
• 3.13: Moving Shuffler Implementations Into ScrambledWordLibrary
• 3.14: Danger of Overusing Inner Classer
• 3.15: Testing Refactoring
• 3.16: Beauty of IDE Interoperability
• 3.17: Anonymous Inner Classes
• 3.18: Converting Anonymous Inner Class to Lambda
• 3.19: Expression Lambdas
• 3.20: Font Ligatures
• 3.21: Testing and Commiting Lambdas
• 3.22: Turning Rot13Scrambler into a Lambda
• 3.23: Method References
• 3.24: Making ArrayShuffler.shuffle() Methods static
• 3.25: Forcing Everyone To Use Static Methods
• 3.26: DecoratedWordLibrary
• 3.27: ScrambledWordLibrary as a Decorator
• 3.28: ShuffledWordLibrary as a Decorator
• 3.29: Cleaning Up the Concrete Decorators
• 3.30: Updated Copyright Notices
• 3.31: Make Classes Final Where Possible
• 3.32: Commit and Push
• 3.33: Conclusion

We hope you enjoyed this tutorial. If you did, you will also enjoy our courses. We suggest you start with Extreme Java - Advanced Java, followed by Extreme Java - Concurrency Performance for Java 8.