Java, A Beginner's Guide, 5th Edition, 5th Edition

The Object Class

Java defines one special class called Object that is an implicit superclass of all other classes. In other words, all other classes are subclasses of Object. This means that a reference variable of type Object can refer to an object of any other class. Also, since arrays are implemented as classes, a variable of type Object can also refer to any array.

Object defines the following methods, which means that they are available in every object:

The methods getClass( ), notify( ), notifyAll( ), and wait( ) are declared as final. You can override the others. Several of these methods are described later in this book. However, notice ...