Inheritance: pull up duplicated behavior
Write shared behavior once in a superclass, so every subclass gets each change.
Watch the narrated video
Every step
Problem
Steps 1–3Refactor
Steps 4–7Payoff
Steps 8–9Recap
Steps 10–11The code: before and after
Before
abstract class Shipment
{
public abstract int Price();
}
class DomesticShipment : Shipment
{
private readonly string tracking;
private readonly int weightKg;
public DomesticShipment(string tracking, int weightKg)
{
this.tracking = tracking;
this.weightKg = weightKg;
}
public override int Price() => 5 + weightKg;
public string Label()
{
return $"{tracking} | {weightKg} kg | ${Price()}";
}
}
class InternationalShipment : Shipment
{
private readonly string tracking;
private readonly int weightKg;
public InternationalShipment(string tracking, int weightKg)
{
this.tracking = tracking;
this.weightKg = weightKg;
}
public override int Price() => 20 + weightKg * 4;
public string Label()
{
return $"{tracking} | {weightKg} kg | ${Price()}";
}
}
static class Dispatch
{
public static void Main()
{
var home = new DomesticShipment("DM-1", 2);
var abroad = new InternationalShipment("IN-7", 2);
Console.WriteLine(home.Label()); // DM-1 | 2 kg | $7
Console.WriteLine(abroad.Label()); // IN-7 | 2 kg | $28
}
}After
abstract class Shipment
{
protected readonly string tracking;
protected readonly int weightKg;
private bool fragile;
protected Shipment(string tracking, int weightKg)
{
this.tracking = tracking;
this.weightKg = weightKg;
}
public abstract int Price();
public void MarkFragile() => fragile = true;
public string Label()
{
string suffix = fragile ? " | FRAGILE" : "";
return $"{tracking} | {weightKg} kg | ${Price()}{suffix}";
}
}
class DomesticShipment : Shipment
{
public DomesticShipment(string tracking, int weightKg)
: base(tracking, weightKg) { }
public override int Price() => 5 + weightKg;
}
class InternationalShipment : Shipment
{
public InternationalShipment(string tracking, int weightKg)
: base(tracking, weightKg) { }
public override int Price() => 20 + weightKg * 4;
}
static class Dispatch
{
public static void Main()
{
var home = new DomesticShipment("DM-1", 2);
var abroad = new InternationalShipment("IN-7", 2);
abroad.MarkFragile();
Console.WriteLine(home.Label()); // DM-1 | 2 kg | $7
Console.WriteLine(abroad.Label()); // IN-7 | 2 kg | $28 | FRAGILE
}
}Transcript, step by step
Problem
Step 1: A courier's two shipments Before
A parcel courier's dispatch desk works with two kinds of shipment. Shipment is the superclass, the class the others extend, and each subclass, a class that extends it, says what its parcel costs. Both subclasses also keep a tracking code and a weight, and both build a label from them. The desk prints one label for a domestic parcel and one for an international one.
Step 2: Fragile parcels Code smell
The courier now needs the word fragile on the label of fragile parcels. The quick way adds a fragile field, a mark fragile method and a label suffix to Domestic Shipment, and then the same three again to International Shipment. Dispatch marks the parcel going abroad, so only the second label ends in fragile.
Step 3: Two copies of everything Code smell
Duplicated code across subclasses is when two classes that share a superclass each write the same fields and methods on their own. You can see the fields here and here, and the label here and here. So every change to the label is made twice, and the day someone edits only one copy, a fragile parcel ships without the word on it. A third shipment type would copy all of it a third time.
Refactor
Step 4: Refactor first Back it out
Let's take the fragile flag out again. We'll refactor first, so that the shared parts move up into Shipment, and then we'll add the flag in one place.
Step 5: Fields move up Pull Up Field
First, the tracking code and the weight move up into Shipment, as protected fields that every subclass can see. Both subclass copies of the fields are gone, and the two constructors still assign them. The fields can't be read only yet, because the subclasses assign them and Shipment doesn't.
Step 6: One constructor body Pull Up Constructor Body
Next, Shipment gets a protected constructor that assigns both fields. Each subclass constructor becomes one call to base, with the tracking code and the weight. Only Shipment assigns the fields now, so they can be read only again.
Step 7: One label Pull Up Method
Now the two label bodies are identical, so one copy moves up into Shipment, and both subclass copies are deleted. Label still works because it calls price, and each subclass still answers price its own way. This is inheritance, where a subclass gets the fields and methods of its superclass, so the shared parts are written once, in Shipment. What's left in each subclass is its constructor and its price. A superclass method that calls a step each subclass fills in, like label calling price, is the Template Method pattern.
Payoff
Step 8: Fragile, once Add the flag
Now the fragile flag comes back, and this time it goes into Shipment only. Shipment gains one fragile field and one mark fragile method, and label adds the suffix once. Domestic and International Shipment didn't change, and Dispatch only gains one call that marks the parcel going abroad.
Step 9: Shared code lives once Payoff
The fields now exist once, here, and the label exists once, here. The fragile rule is written once too, so the two labels can't drift apart, and the run prints the word only on the parcel going abroad. It fits because both classes are shipments, each with a tracking code, a weight and a label, and only the price differs. Abstraction hid how a class stores its data, and inheritance shares what two classes both do.
Recap
Step 10: Where we started, where we ended Before / after
On the left, each subclass keeps its own fields, its own constructor body and its own label. On the right, Shipment holds the fields, the constructor, the fragile flag and the label, each written once. A subclass like Domestic Shipment keeps one call to base and its own price.
Step 11: When to reach for it Takeaways
Reach for it when two or more subclasses of one superclass repeat the same fields or the same method body. Skip it when two classes look alike today but will change for different reasons, because a superclass ties them together, so use Extract Class and delegate to it. You'll spot the need by the same method copied into sibling subclasses, and the same fields and constructor lines in each. Dot net's Keyed Collection works this way, because a subclass writes get key for item, and inherits add, contains and lookup by key.