The Final Keyword

The final keyword plays a crucial role in defining classes and controlling inheritance hierarchies. It provides developers with a powerful mechanism to restrict certain aspects of class design.

The usage of final keyword

When a class is declared as final, it indicates that the class cannot be subclassed further. In other words, it serves as the end point of the inheritance hierarchy, disallowing from deriving it.

Example


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class Example final {
    // Class members and methods
};

//  cannot derive from final base Example
class ExtendedExample: public Example {
    // Class members and methods
};

int main() {}

This feature is especially valuable when you aim to restrict the modification or extension of a specific class, or when you prefer utilizing your class using composition rather than inheritance. There is also other benefits to using it.

Aspect	Description
Enhanced Design Control	Marking classes as `final` enables precise control over the inheritance hierarchy, preventing unintended modifications or extensions.
Code Safety	Utilizing `final` enhances code safety by enforcing design decisions and reducing the risk of introducing bugs or inconsistencies through subclassing.
Performance Optimization	Compiler optimizations can be more effectively applied when certain classes are marked as `final`, potentially leading to improved runtime performance.

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Seção 4. Capítulo 6