CS 310 Quiz 6

CS 310, Object-Oriented Programming with Java

The max() method accepts two objects and returns the larger of the two based on the result of Comparable.compareTo(). Illustrate with code the difference between implementing
```
Object max(Object a, Object b)
```
and
```
Object max(Comparable a, Comparable b)
```
Hint: in either case, max() implementation has a one (possibly compound) statement.
Given object parameters, max() has to downcast them to Comparables and then test:
```
Object max(Object a, Object b)
  if ((Comparable a).compareTo(b) < 1)
    return b;
  else
    return a;
```
Given Comparable parameters, no downcasting is needed:
```
Object max(Object a, Object b)
  return a.compareTo(b) < 1 ? b : a;
```
Interfaces, page 214 (7th ed.) or 244 (8th ed.).
Explain why you should favor interfaces over abstract classes.
Interfaces allow a form of multiple inheritance, while abstract classes do not (Interfaces and Abstract Classes, page 218 (7th ed.) or 249 (8th ed.)).