Interfaces and Polymorphism

Section 7.6 Interfaces and Polymorphism

Let’s tie everything together with a fully runnable project showing how polymorphism (i.e., "many forms") simplifies code when multiple classes share the same interface.

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Subsection 7.6.1 Interfaces and Polymorphism in Action

Incremental Building (Recommended Approach): Beginners often get overwhelmed if they see multiple files at once. A better strategy is building up step by step:

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Create the interface first: (e.g., Playable.java). Compile it alone (javac Playable.java) to check there are no typos.

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Add one class at a time: For instance, write MusicTrack.java implementing Playable, then compile it. If you see a compiler error, fix it before moving on.

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Write a small main: that just creates a MusicTrack object and calls some method. Compile and run to verify it works.

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Add more classes incrementally: (e.g., PodcastEpisode, Audiobook) repeating the compile/test cycle each time. This prevents a flood of errors all at once.

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Finally, unify them in a more comprehensive MediaPlayer class: with a full main method demonstrating all classes. If something breaks, you know which recent addition is likely responsible.

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Below is how the final set of files might look once you’re done:

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Project Folder:

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MyInterfaceProject/
├── Playable.java
├── MusicTrack.java
├── PodcastEpisode.java
├── Audiobook.java
└── MediaPlayer.java

Then the code might look like this all together:

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// Playable interface would be declared public in Playable.java 
interface Playable {
    void play();
}

// MusicTrack.java 
class MusicTrack implements Playable {
    @Override
    public void play() {
        System.out.println("Playing music track...");
    }
}

// PodcastEpisode.java
class PodcastEpisode implements Playable {
    @Override
    public void play() {
        System.out.println("Playing podcast episode...");
    }
}

// Audiobook.java
class Audiobook implements Playable {
    @Override
    public void play() {
        System.out.println("Playing audiobook...");
    }
}

// MediaPlayer.java
public class MediaPlayer {

public static void playMedia(Playable media) {
        media.play();
    }

public static void main(String[] args) {
        Playable track = new MusicTrack();
        Playable podcast = new PodcastEpisode();
        Playable book = new Audiobook();

playMedia(track);   // "Playing music track..."
        playMedia(podcast); // "Playing podcast episode..."
        playMedia(book);    // "Playing audiobook..."
    }
}

How to compile & run:

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Compile (step by step or all at once): In your project folder, run javac *.java to compile all .java files. If you prefer incremental compilation, do javac Playable.java first, then each new class as you create it.

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Run: Then run java MediaPlayer to execute the main method in MediaPlayer.

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Notice you don’t need to change MediaPlayer if you add a new class (like Livestream) implementing Playable. You can just do:

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public class Livestream implements Playable {
    @Override
    public void play() {
        System.out.println("Streaming live...");
    }
}

// Then in main (or anywhere):
playMedia(new Livestream()); // prints "Streaming live..."

This is polymorphism. The same "playMedia" method call does different things depending on the object’s class.

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Checkpoint 7.6.1. Interface Implementation.

Consider a program that follows these steps:

An interface Drawable is defined with a single method draw().
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Two classes, Circle and Rectangle, implement the Drawable interface and provide their own definitions of the draw() method.
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A method drawShape(Drawable shape) is created in a separate class. This method takes a Drawable object as a parameter and calls its draw() method, demonstrating polymorphism.
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In a main method, instances of Circle and Rectangle are created and passed to drawShape(), demonstrating polymorphism.
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Which of the following statements is true regarding this implementation?

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The Drawable interface must provide an implementation for the draw() method.
No. Interfaces in Java only define method signatures without providing implementations (except for default and static methods, which are not used here). The actual implementation of draw() must be provided by classes that implement the interface.
The Circle and Rectangle classes must override the draw() method from the Drawable interface.
Correct! The Circle and Rectangle classes must override the draw() method from the Drawable interface.
The drawShape(Drawable shape) method must be defined inside the Drawable interface.
No! Interfaces are meant to define behavior but not necessarily contain utility methods like drawShape(). This method is better suited for a separate class where it can accept any Drawable object and invoke its draw() method.
We cannot pass a Circle or Rectangle object to drawShape() because they are not of type Drawable.
Since Circle and Rectangle implement Drawable, they are considered polymorphic types of Drawable. This allows them to be passed as arguments to drawShape(Drawable shape), which expects a Drawable parameter.

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