What is a direct superclass?

What is a direct superclass?

• A. The class from which the subclass explicitly inherits
• B. The class that ultimately determines all methods
• C. A class that implements an interface
• D. A class without any methods

Answer: (A)

A direct superclass is the class from which a subclass explicitly inherits. In languages with single inheritance, a subclass has one direct superclass—the immediate parent declared in the class’s inheritance clause. That relationship means the subclass gets the parent’s fields and methods, and it can override or augment them. For example, if Dog extends Animal, Animal is the direct superclass of Dog, providing any inherited behavior unless Dog overrides it. The direct superclass is the first level up the inheritance chain; any further ancestors are indirect superclasses. This is different from a class that merely implements an interface, or a class with no methods, or the class that ultimately determines all methods, which isn’t what “direct superclass” refers to.

A direct superclass is the class from which a subclass explicitly inherits. In languages with single inheritance, a subclass has one direct superclass—the immediate parent declared in the class’s inheritance clause. That relationship means the subclass gets the parent’s fields and methods, and it can override or augment them. For example, if Dog extends Animal, Animal is the direct superclass of Dog, providing any inherited behavior unless Dog overrides it. The direct superclass is the first level up the inheritance chain; any further ancestors are indirect superclasses.

This is different from a class that merely implements an interface, or a class with no methods, or the class that ultimately determines all methods, which isn’t what “direct superclass” refers to.