Learning principles of Object-Oriented Programming, one of the first and very important thing to understand is a definition of subtype. It’s usually not a big problem to explain it correctly and there are a few descriptions dangling around.
Of course, I have my favourite definition of the relation between supertype and subtype. It is called Liskov Substitution Principle. The LSP reveals existing subtleties that may make understanding of the term of subtype not easy. There is a well-known example presenting potential problems: a squere is a rectangle or may be it is not? Robert Martin has written more about in C++ Report long time ago (PDF). For a C++ programmer, like myself - who cares about design by contract (DbC) - the Liskov Substitution Principle is helpful to understand role of pre-/post-conditions in inheritance.
The Liskov Substitution Principle was formulated by Professor Barbara Liskov (MIT). Two days ago, BBC announced as follows:
The 2009 A. M. Turing Award has gone to Barbara Liskov for her contributions to programming.
(Barbara Liskov wins Turing award, BBC)
Congratulations!
