How to call a super constructor from another inherited class?

Question

I have been instructed to do the following:

• Create a constructor with no arguments in Carnivore that call the super constructor in Animal.

Carnivore is a sub class of Animal which is the super class. so I am looking to call the constructor in Animal within Carnivore. Here is the code:

Animal super-class

abstract public class Animal 
{

    int age;
    String name;
    String noise;

Animal(String name, int age)   
{
    this.age = age;
    this.name = name;
} 

Animal()
{
  this("newborn", 0); //This is the super class that needs to be called in Carnivore.
}

}

Carnivore sub-class

public class Carnivore extends Animal
{

   Carnivore()
{
   //Call Animal super constructor
}

}  

I haven't worked with inheritance before so I'm still getting to grips with it. Any feedback is appreciated, thanks.

Answer 1

You can use super() to call super class constructor as shown below:

public class Carnivore extends Animal {

  Carnivore() {
    super(); //calls Animal() no-argument constructor
  }
}

With super(), the superclass no-argument constructor is called. With super(parameter list), the superclass constructor with a matching parameter list is called.

I recommend you to refer here to understand the basics of inheritance and super.