Constructor Inheritance Question

Question

Here's a quote from the Java Tutorials at http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/java/javaOO/objectcreation.html :
"All classes have at least one constructor. If a class does not explicitly declare any, the Java compiler automatically provides a no-argument constructor, called the default constructor. This default constructor calls the class parent's no-argument constructor, or the Object constructor if the class has no other parent. If the parent has no constructor (Object does have one), the compiler will reject the program."
In order to fully understand this concept, I created two classes: a ClassParent and a ClassChild.
public class ClassParent
    public static void main(String[] args) {
       ClassParent tester = new ClassParent();
public class ClassChild extends ClassParent
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        ClassChild child = new ClassChild();
}Both classes compiled successfully, which raised the following question:
I understand that the ClassParent default constructor calls the Object's no-argument constructor.
Does the ClassChild also call the Object's constructor once it realizes that the ClassParent does not have a no-argument constructor?
And a somewhat non-related question:
Seeing how ClassParent calls Object's no-argument constructor if it does not have one of its own, does it also extend the Object class?
Edit: After running the following code, I realized that the answer to my last question is yes:
public class ClassParent
    public static void main(String[] args) {
       ClassParent tester = new ClassParent();
       boolean test = tester instanceof Object;
       System.out.println(test);
}Edited by: youmefriend722 on May 26, 2008 1:54 PM

Answer 1

youmefriend722 wrote:
I think I'm getting a basic grasp now but want to make sure that I'm not misunderstanding anything.
Constructor inheritance:
If a no-argument constructor is invoked but one isn't declared in that class, the superclass's no-argument constructor will be invoked. Well, sort of. If you invoke a constructor that doesn't exist, you get an error. Keep in mind that the invocation and the constructor may both be automatically supplied by the compiler, and that the compiler won't automatically create a no-arg constructor for a class if you define any constructors for that class.
So if you don't define any constructors in a class, then a no-arg one is created automatically (at compile time) and (at runtime) when you instantiate that class, that no-arg constructor will try to invoke the superclass's no-arg constructor.
But suppose you do define a constructor, one that takes an argument. Then if you try to invoke a no-arg constructor on that class, you'll get an error, and the superclass's no-arg constructor won't be invoked (because the error happens first).
If the superclass does not have a constructor, then the superclass's superclass's constructor will be invoked.No. That never happens. Every class has a constructor (although it might have permissions which make it inaccessible, which is a whole other issue we'll worry about later).
If the superclass does have a constructor but doesn't have a no-argument constructor, then there will be a compile-time error.Only if you try to invoke the no-arg constructor, which might happen implicitly. For example, if you write a superclass with a 2-arg constructor, and you write a subclass with a 1-arg constructor, and the 1-arg subclass's constructor invokes the superclass's 2-arg constructor, then there's no problem, even though in this example, the superclass doesn't have a no-arg constructor.
Constructors in general:
In every constructor, the superclass's no-argument constructor will be invoked if the none of the superclass's constructors are explicitly invoked.Yeah, I think that's right.