Super

With this keyword, we can reference the "ancestor" or base class of a derived class. Super enables us to access ancestor classes with ease.

Along with the extends keyword, we use super to facilitate object-oriented design. We compose classes from a parent. This sometimes reduces code duplication.

First example

Let us examine a "super" program. First notice the "extends" keyword. Here the class Cat extends the class Animal. I call the scratch() method on Cat.

class Animal {
    public void scratch() {
        System.out.println("Animal scratched");
    }
}

class Cat extends Animal {
    public void scratch() {
        // Call super-class method.
        super.scratch();
        System.out.println("Cat scratched");
    }
}

public class Program {
    public static void main(String[] args) {

        // Create cat and call method.
        Cat cat = new Cat();
        cat.scratch();
    }
}
Animal scratched
Cat scratched

Super, Object

All classes have a parent class of Object. If a class has no "extends" class, it inherits from Object. We can use methods like hashCode() from Object.

class Page {
    public void test() {
        // This class inherits from Object only.
        // ... So it gains access to methods like hashCode on Object.
        System.out.println(super.hashCode());
    }
}

public class Program {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        Page page = new Page();
        page.test();
    }
}
366712642

Super, constructor

With a call to super() in a derived class, we can invoke the parent's constructor. We can pass arguments to the super() method and they are received in that constructor.

class Data {
    public Data() {
        System.out.println("Data constructor");
    }
}

class Image extends Data {
    public Image() {
        // Call the superclass constructor.
        super();
    }
}

public class Program {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        Image value = new Image();
        System.out.println("Done");
    }
}
Data constructor
Done

In other languages like C# we use the "base" keyword instead of super. But the meaning is similar. We use these keywords to reference the parent.

A summary

Class composition is not a fix for all design problems. But it can sometimes help complicated programs become simpler. For small projects, though, it is less often needed.