In Java 101: Inheritance in Java, Part 1, you learned how to leverage inheritance for code reuse, by establishing is-a relationships between classes.

See “ Java tip: Inheritance relationships in JPA and Hibernate ” for a guide to choosing a Java inheritance strategy that supports data persistence. Read all of Rafael’s articles in the ...

A method might accept a specific type and its subclasses, but you want to restrict usage to a select few implementations of your own design. Java's open inheritance model can feel like an open ...