University of Central Florida (UCF) COP3330 Object Oriented Programming Final Practice Exam

A subclass is fundamentally a class that extends the functionality of another class, which is referred to as the superclass. This relationship is central to the concept of inheritance in object-oriented programming. By defining a subclass, a programmer allows it to inherit attributes and methods from the superclass, while also providing the opportunity to add new features or override existing functionality.

This extension mechanism allows for code reusability and helps to create a hierarchical class structure. For example, if there is a superclass called "Vehicle," a subclass could be "Car," which inherits common characteristics like "speed" and "capacity" from "Vehicle," but also adds specific features like "number of doors" or "trunk size."

The other options do not correctly describe a subclass's relationship with its superclass. A subclass must inherit from a superclass to exist, thereby making it unable to function independently without a parent class. Encapsulating data is more about how a class organizes its attributes and methods rather than its relationship to a superclass. Additionally, implementing interfaces focuses on defining a contract for the class rather than extending another class, which does not pertain to the concept of subclassing directly.