How can you initialize a superclass's variable in its subclass so that the subclass has its own value to that variable unique to the other subclasses?

Question

For example, if in the class 'animal' there was the String variable 'species,' and I made a subclass 'Cat,' how could I initialize the species variable so that for cat, it contained the value "cat"? Sorry for the dumb question.

[java initialize base class fields in subclass constructor](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/51845169/java-initialize-base-class-fields-in-subclass-constructor) Or just enter the following in the search box at the top of this Web page: ___[java] initialize superclass member in subclass___ — Abra, Oct 16 '22 at 04:42
Does this answer your question? [java initialize base class fields in subclass constructor](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/51845169/java-initialize-base-class-fields-in-subclass-constructor) — tgdavies, Oct 16 '22 at 05:30
Don't use `static` for your fields. Static is class-level, not instance-level. Use the constructor to pass values. In any case, you should provide a [mre] with the code you have now. — Mark Rotteveel, Oct 16 '22 at 05:30
Please provide enough code so others can better understand or reproduce the problem. — Community, Oct 16 '22 at 12:24

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Oct 16 '22 at 23:43

This is an example that shows that you can have a superclass that has a general field (in our case species) and that field can be instantiated in the subclasses of the superclass with different values. The subclass can have a default constructor that sets a default value for the general field (in our case the species has the default value of cat) and we can have constructors that help us set a new spice for the subclass Cat.

public class Test {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        Animal animal = new Animal();
        Cat cat = new Cat();
        Cat tiger = new Cat("tiger");
        Cat jaguar = new Cat("jaguar");

        System.out.println("Animal specie: " + animal.species);
        System.out.println("Normal cat specie: " + cat.species);
        System.out.println("Tiger cat specie: " + tiger.species);
        System.out.println("Jaguar cat specie: " + jaguar.species);
    }
}

class Animal {
    String species;

    public Animal() {
        species = "animal";
    }
}

class Cat extends Animal {
    public Cat() {
        species = "cat";
    }

    public Cat(String specie) {
        species = specie;
    }
}

Here you can see the result

How can you initialize a superclass's variable in its subclass so that the subclass has its own value to that variable unique to the other subclasses?

1 Answers1