MATLAB Object-Oriented Programming

A Class Hierarchy for Heterogeneous Arrays

In this section...

“Interfaces Based on Heterogeneous Arrays” on page 20-2

“Define Heterogeneous Hierarchy” on page 20-2

“Assets Class” on page 20-5

“Stocks Class” on page 20-7

“Bonds Class” on page 20-9

“Cash Class” on page 20-10

“Default Object” on page 20-12

“Operating on an Assets Array” on page 20-14

Interfaces Based on Heterogeneous Arrays

A heterogeneous class hierarchy lets you create arrays containing objects of different

classes that are related though inheritance. You can define class methods that operate on

these heterogeneous arrays as a whole.

A class design based on heterogeneous arrays provides a more convenient interface than,

for example, extracting elements from a cell array and operating on these elements

individually. For more information on the design of class hierarchies that support

heterogeneous arrays, see “Designing Heterogeneous Class Hierarchies” on page 10-24.

All heterogeneous hierarchies derive from matlab.mixin.Heterogeneous.

Define Heterogeneous Hierarchy

NoteThis example does not use valid terminology or techniques for managing financial

assets. The purpose of this example is only to illustrate techniques for defining

heterogeneous class hierarchies.

This example implements a system of classes to represent financial assets, such as stocks,

bonds, and cash. Classes to represent categories of assets have certain common

requirements. Each instance has one of the following:

20 Designing Related Classes