Java: Calling a super method which calls an overridden method

Question

public class SuperClass
{
    public void method1()
    {
        System.out.println(\"superclass method1\");
        this.method2();
    }

    public void method2(         


        

Answer 1

I think of it this way

+----------------+
|     super      |
+----------------+ <-----------------+
| +------------+ |                   |
| |    this    | | <-+               |
| +------------+ |   |               |
| | @method1() | |   |               |
| | @method2() | |   |               |
| +------------+ |   |               |
|    method4()   |   |               |
|    method5()   |   |               |
+----------------+   |               |
    We instantiate that class, not that one!

Let me move that subclass a little to the left to reveal what's beneath... (Man, I do love ASCII graphics)

We are here
        |
       /  +----------------+
      |   |     super      |
      v   +----------------+
+------------+             |
|    this    |             |
+------------+             |
| @method1() | method1()   |
| @method2() | method2()   |
+------------+ method3()   |
          |    method4()   |
          |    method5()   |
          +----------------+

Then we call the method
over here...
      |               +----------------+
 _____/               |     super      |
/                     +----------------+
|   +------------+    |    bar()       |
|   |    this    |    |    foo()       |
|   +------------+    |    method0()   |
+-> | @method1() |--->|    method1()   | <------------------------------+
    | @method2() | ^  |    method2()   |                                |
    +------------+ |  |    method3()   |                                |
                   |  |    method4()   |                                |
                   |  |    method5()   |                                |
                   |  +----------------+                                |
                   \______________________________________              |
                                                          \             |
                                                          |             |
...which calls super, thus calling the super's method1() here, so that that
method (the overidden one) is executed instead[of the overriding one].

Keep in mind that, in the inheritance hierarchy, since the instantiated
class is the sub one, for methods called via super.something() everything
is the same except for one thing (two, actually): "this" means "the only
this we have" (a pointer to the class we have instantiated, the
subclass), even when java syntax allows us to omit "this" (most of the
time); "super", though, is polymorphism-aware and always refers to the
superclass of the class (instantiated or not) that we're actually
executing code from ("this" is about objects [and can't be used in a
static context], super is about classes).

In other words, quoting from the Java Language Specification:

The form super.Identifier refers to the field named Identifier of the current object, but with the current object viewed as an instance of the superclass of the current class.

The form T.super.Identifier refers to the field named Identifier of the lexically enclosing instance corresponding to T, but with that instance viewed as an instance of the superclass of T.

In layman's terms, this is basically an object (*the** object; the very same object you can move around in variables), the instance of the instantiated class, a plain variable in the data domain; super is like a pointer to a borrowed block of code that you want to be executed, more like a mere function call, and it's relative to the class where it is called.

Therefore if you use super from the superclass you get code from the superduper class [the grandparent] executed), while if you use this (or if it's used implicitly) from a superclass it keeps pointing to the subclass (because nobody has changed it - and nobody could).