Disabling inherited method on derived class

Question

Is there any way to, in a Java derived class, \"disable\" a method and/or field that is otherwise inherited from a base class?

For example, say you have a Shap

Answer 1

I don't think you can disable a method in the way you suggest.

In your example, lets say you have a method that takes a Shape

public void handleShape(Shape s){
  s.rotate();
}

Then you pass a Circle to this method

handleShape(new Circle());

What should happen? Essentially you are asking for a fundamental change to Java's type system.

If Circle is a Shape and shouldn't be rotated then it probably means that Shape was designed poorly and shouldn't have a rotate method. You can add rotate to a different class int the hierarchy like, RotatableShape or possibly use an interface Rotatable.