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Understand Liskov Substitution Principle (LSP)

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4 Nov 2018CPOL3 min read 122.8K   46   22
This article will help you to get a clear understanding of LSP.

Introduction

Here, I am going to discuss the Liskov’s Substitution Principle of S<code>OLID. Now what does SOLID mean? SOLID is an object oriented design principle, where each letter has it own meaning:

  • S-> Single responsibility
  • O-> Open Closed
  • L-> Liskov substitution
  • I-> Interface segregation
  • D-> Dependency inversion

According to Wikipedia, the definition of SOLID is:

"SOLID are guidelines that can be applied while working on software to remove code smells by causing the programmer to refactor the software's source code until it is both legible and extensible."

Background

If you read my previous article, it will be very helpful for you to understand SOLID.

  1. Understand Open Closed Principle and Dependecy Inversion .
  2. Understand Single Responsibility and Interface Segregation

Using the Code

Before starting with the technical discussion, I want to answer the below questions:

What is Liskov substitution principle?

Answer: "objects in a program should be replaceable with instances of their subtypes without altering the correctness of that program"

Is my answer tough to understand? Ok, I will make it more easy...

"It means that we must make sure that new derived classes are extending the base classes without changing their behavior."

Let's consider an example to make it better understood. If you read articles related to the Liskov principle, one example is very popular. Yes that is Rectangular and Square. Here, I will show you the same but will try to explain each and every aspect clearly. Before starting with the technical discussion, look at the below picture and answer the questions.

           

Figure 1

Question: Is Square a Rectangle?
Answer: Yes

If you remember Inheritance, then the word "Is a" relationship familiar to you. So if I convert this to code, it looks like the following:

C#
public class Rectangle
{
    protected int _width;
    protected int _height;
    public int Width
    {
        get { return _width; }
    }
    public int Height
    {
        get { return _height; }
    }

    public virtual void SetWidth(int width)
    {
        _width = width;
    }    
    public virtual void SetHeight(int height)
    {
        _height = height;
    }
    public int getArea()
    {
        return _width * _height;
    }
}  

public class Square : Rectangle  // In an "is a" relationship, the derived class is clearly a
                                  //kind of the base class
{
    public override void SetWidth(int width)
    {
        _width = width;
        _height = width;
    }

    public override void SetHeight(int height)
    {
        _height = height;
        _width = height;
    }
}

So everything is ok. Now we will calculate the area of Figure 1: Rectangle and Square.

C#
public void AreaOfRectangle()
    {
        Rectangle r = RectangleFactory(); // Returns the rectangle type object
        r.SetWidth(7);
        r.SetHeight(3);
        r.getArea();
    }  

So can you tell me the output of the r.getArea(); method. Yes, very simple, the expected output is 7 * 3=21. Now run the program with the below RectangleFactory() method and see whether we get our expected result or not?

C#
public  Rectangle RectangleFactory()
    {
        return new Square();
    }

One thing I want to mention about the RectangleFactory() is that, this method is now exposed to you. But think as if you are getting the Rectangle object just by using a factory DLL or from any service where you have no idea what type of rectangle object will be returned.

Did you see the result? Yes.

This is the output: 9.

So what's wrong there ? Remember as I said earlier:

"we must make sure that new derived classes are extending the base classes without changing their behavior"

If we say specifically:

"we must make sure that Square classes are extending the Rectangle without changing their behavior"

Is the above sentence correct according to our program?

No, the problem is:

without changing their behavior

But we change the behavior of the base Rectangle class. Did you notice how? No, OK, let's see:

C#
public override void SetWidth(int width)
    {
        _width = width; 
        _height = width; //Change the behavior here by assigning the width to Rectangle _height
                         
    }

    public override void SetHeight(int height)
    {
        _height = height;
        _width = height;//Change the behavior here by assigning the height to Rectangle _width 
                        
    } 

Width=Height is must be rule for Square <code>not for Rectangle. So when Square object returns from Rectanglefactory() before calling getArea(), user assigns r.SetHeight(3) and r.SetWidth(7) and waits for a result 21 but gets 9. It changes the result. But the end user was expecting the result of Rectangle area.

So violation of Liskov substitution principle occurs.

Now the solution is to manage the class inheritance hierarchies correctly. Let's introduce another class.

C#
public abstract class Quadrilaterals
{
    abstract public int GetArea();
}

Now change the inheritance hierarchies by making it base class.

C#
public class Rectangle :Quadrilaterals
{    
    public int Width
    {
        get ; set ;
    }
    public int Height
    {
        get ; 
        set ;
    }
    public override int GetArea()
    {
        return Height * Width;
    }    
} 
C#
public class Square : Quadrilaterals  // In an "is a" relationship, the derived class is clearly a
                                      // kind of the base class
{
    public  int Size
    {
        get ; 
        set ;
    }
    public override int GetArea()
    {
        return Size* Size;
    }
}  

Now our factory method also changes.

C#
public Quadrilaterals QuadrilateralsFactory()
   {
       return new Square();
   }
   public void AreaOfQuadrilateral()
   {
       Quadrilaterals r = QuadrilateralsFactory(); // Returns the Quadrilaterals type object
       r.Height=7;
       r.Width=3;
       r.getArea();
   }

Points of Interest

So from users point of view, now s/he is expecting the area of <code>Quadrilateral not the Rectangle. By using this input, when output comes 21 is a Rectangle area and when 9 it's a Square .

C#
Quadrilaterals r = new Rectangle();
       r.Height=7;
       r.Width=3;
       r.getArea();

       Quadrilaterals r = new Square();
       r.Height = 7;
       r.Width = 3;
       r.getArea();

Now user gets the expected behavior from the program. So it satisfies the Liskov Substitute Principle (LSP).

License

This article, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The Code Project Open License (CPOL)


Written By
Bangladesh Bangladesh
I am a Sr.Software Engineer at Brain Station -23. I have 5+ years of work experience in .Net technology. I strongly believe that before software can be reusable it first has to be usable.

My contact info :

mfrony2003@yahoo.com
mfrony2003@hotmail.com

LinkedIn
http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=106671466&trk=tab_pro

Comments and Discussions

 
QuestionSOID Pin
dmjm-h5-Nov-18 13:04
dmjm-h5-Nov-18 13:04 
GeneralYour example should be like this. Pin
Sanjay K. Gupta5-Nov-18 2:55
professionalSanjay K. Gupta5-Nov-18 2:55 
QuestionAre you fitting square pegs into round holes? Pin
George Swan4-Nov-18 20:23
mveGeorge Swan4-Nov-18 20:23 
PraiseSimple and Well explained Pin
laxmeesh.joshi7-Mar-16 23:04
laxmeesh.joshi7-Mar-16 23:04 
General[My vote of 2] Good but... Pin
Nejimon CR1-Jan-16 1:44
Nejimon CR1-Jan-16 1:44 
GeneralRe: [My vote of 2] Good but... Pin
Member 1379719924-Apr-18 22:45
Member 1379719924-Apr-18 22:45 
GeneralRe: [My vote of 2] Good but... Pin
Paulo Zemek26-Jun-18 11:36
mvaPaulo Zemek26-Jun-18 11:36 
GeneralMy vote of 5 Pin
Humayun Kabir Mamun1-May-15 0:00
Humayun Kabir Mamun1-May-15 0:00 
GeneralNicely explained! Pin
Shahdat Hosain10-Nov-13 13:01
Shahdat Hosain10-Nov-13 13:01 
GeneralMy vote of 3 Pin
Silvabolt16-Oct-13 3:58
Silvabolt16-Oct-13 3:58 
SuggestionExplaining LSP by sacrificing POLA principle. Pin
Ryszard Dżegan8-Sep-13 22:59
professionalRyszard Dżegan8-Sep-13 22:59 
GeneralRe: Explaining LSP by sacrificing POLA principle. Pin
VikasChaturvedi11-Jun-14 21:43
VikasChaturvedi11-Jun-14 21:43 
GeneralMy vote of 5 Pin
Mohammed Hameed22-May-13 19:17
professionalMohammed Hameed22-May-13 19:17 
QuestionI see where you are going but... Pin
MarkRHolbrook22-May-13 8:38
MarkRHolbrook22-May-13 8:38 
BugNot a good example of Liskov Pin
charoco22-May-13 7:51
charoco22-May-13 7:51 
GeneralMy vote of 3 Pin
Paulo Zemek21-May-13 10:23
mvaPaulo Zemek21-May-13 10:23 
QuestionThis is wrong. Pin
Paulo Zemek21-May-13 8:58
mvaPaulo Zemek21-May-13 8:58 
AnswerRe: This is wrong. Pin
Faisal(mfrony)21-May-13 14:28
Faisal(mfrony)21-May-13 14:28 
GeneralRe: This is wrong. Pin
Paulo Zemek21-May-13 15:17
mvaPaulo Zemek21-May-13 15:17 
GeneralRe: This is wrong. Pin
Faisal(mfrony)21-May-13 15:30
Faisal(mfrony)21-May-13 15:30 
AnswerRe: This is wrong. Pin
Faisal(mfrony)21-May-13 15:20
Faisal(mfrony)21-May-13 15:20 
Hi need one more clarification about the solution that you provided,Property Height and Width for Rectangle and Size for Square. So when factory method returning only the object (no constructor initialization) i get it on Quadrilaterals r = QuadrilateralsFactory(); at this point how can i set Height and Width or Size because Quadrilaterals have only abstract GetArea()
GeneralExplained here Pin
RaviBattula21-May-13 0:02
professionalRaviBattula21-May-13 0:02 

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