the super keyword

The super keyword is used to refer to the immediate parent class (superclass) of a class. It can be used in various contexts to access or call members (fields, methods, constructors) of the superclass. The primary purposes of the super keyword are:

1. Accessing Superclass Members: You can use super to access fields or methods of the superclass when they are shadowed or overridden in the subclass. This helps disambiguate between superclass and subclass members with the same name.

2. Calling Superclass Constructors: You can use super to call a constructor of the superclass from a constructor of the subclass. This is often done to reuse the initialization code of the superclass.

Here are the main uses of the super keyword:

1. Accessing Superclass Members:

class Animal {
    String name = "Animal";

    void makeSound() {
        System.out.println("Animal makes a sound.");
    }
}

class Dog extends Animal {
    String name = "Dog";

    void makeSound() {
        System.out.println(super.name); // Accessing the 'name' field of the superclass
        super.makeSound(); // Calling the 'makeSound' method of the superclass
    }
}

public class SuperKeywordExample {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        Dog myDog = new Dog();
        myDog.makeSound();
    }
}

In this example, the super keyword is used in the Dog class to access the name field and makeSound method of the Animal superclass.

2. Calling Superclass Constructors:

class Animal {
    String name;

    Animal(String name) {
        this.name = name;
    }
}

class Dog extends Animal {
    String breed;

    Dog(String name, String breed) {
        super(name); // Calling the constructor of the superclass 'Animal'
        this.breed = breed;
    }

    void displayInfo() {
        System.out.println("Name: " + super.name); // Accessing 'name' from superclass
        System.out.println("Breed: " + breed);
    }
}

public class SuperKeywordConstructorExample {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        Dog myDog = new Dog("Buddy", "Golden Retriever");
        myDog.displayInfo();
    }
}

In this example, the super keyword is used in the Dog constructor to call the constructor of the superclass Animal.

The super keyword is a powerful tool for working with class hierarchies and ensuring that you can access or extend the behavior of the superclass in a controlled manner.