Downcasting in Java

[sonxEr77]

I believe you can cast an Object class to any class in Java. Because Object is super, then this must be down casting ... But, why can't we down cast any other base class to its subclass?

i.e

class Mamal {
}

class Cat extends Mamal {
}

void downCast() {
    Mamal m = new Mamal();
    Cat c = (Cat) m; // class cast exception?
    c = (Cat) new Object(); //?????
}

 

[skippydox]

why would you wanna do that cos it doesnt make much sense...

Manager extends Employee{}

in this case a manager is always an employee...but you cannot say every employee is a manager.

:erm:

 

[sonxEr77]

This StackOverflow question seems to explain it quite well:
Downcasting in Java

Thanx dequadin, that explains it nicely ...