Java RTTI - Run type type identification

Question

This Question might seem odd; but its true:
In Java we have getClass() for an Object to know its REAL TYPE. But we dont have any method to get its CASTED TYPE class. Although, throughout code we know it at coding time; there might be cases where we want to know it programatically; (for creating inheritance relationships on the fly.)

Answer 1

I don't know why you would ever need this unless you were writing a compiler. If you keep a reference to an object, that reference is whatever the casted type is. i.e. void foo( MySubclass inSub, MySuperclass inSup )
    MySuperClass mySup = inSub; // can be done implicitly
    MySubClass mySub = (MySubClass)inSup; // legal, but can throw a ClassCastException
}and anywhere later in foo() the casted class is already known.
You might be able to use reflection to do more dynamic casts, but you still aren't going to keep a different reference....
I think maybe what you want in this case is something more like an interface where you know specific methods need to exist and you can override them...