Polymorphism & Dynamic Binding

Aquarium Example

Imagine that the aquarium in the Aquarium Lab Series could hold more than just fish. We could create a simple superclass, AquariumObject, that implements the following methods:

• int id(): get the object's ID
• void act(): does nothing, but can be redefined in subclasses to act/move in whatever way is appropriate for the object
• possibly other methods, such as toString

Subclasses of AquariumObject might include:

• AquaFish
• Crab, Seahorse, Shrimp: each would move differently
• (Large municipal aquarium): Whales, Dolphins, Penguins
• Coral, Sea Grasses, Kelp
• Rocks (might just inherit the do-nothing move method)