Conversiones de tipos en la práctica

Conversión de tipos en la práctica

Upcast: polimorfismo

class Payment {}
class CreditCardPayment extends Payment {
    public void authorizeCard() {}
}

CreditCardPayment cc = new CreditCardPayment();
Payment p = cc; // implicit upcast — always safe

// p.authorizeCard(); // Compile error — Payment doesn't have this method
// need downcast to access subclass methods

Downcast: acceso a miembros del subtipo

Payment p = new CreditCardPayment();

// Downcast to access CreditCardPayment-specific method
if (p instanceof CreditCardPayment cc) {
    cc.authorizeCard(); // safe with pattern matching
    System.out.println("Card authorized");
}

// Unsafe downcast without check:
try {
    BankTransfer bt = (BankTransfer) p; // ClassCastException!
} catch (ClassCastException e) {
    System.out.println("Wrong type!");
}

Conversión numérica en cálculos

int totalRevenue = 1000;
int months = 3;

// Integer division — truncates!
double wrong = totalRevenue / months;
System.out.println(wrong); // 333.0 (not 333.33)

// Correct: cast one operand to double first
double correct = (double) totalRevenue / months;
System.out.println(correct); // 333.3333333333333

Conversión en colecciones (antes de los genéricos)

import java.util.*;

// Legacy raw list (pre-Java 5 style)
List legacyList = new ArrayList();
legacyList.add("Alice");
legacyList.add(42);

for (Object item : legacyList) {
    if (item instanceof String s) {
        System.out.println("Name: " + s.toUpperCase());
    } else if (item instanceof Integer n) {
        System.out.println("Score: " + (n * 2));
    }
}

Conversión con interfaces

interface Printable { void print(); }
interface Saveable  { void save(); }

class Report implements Printable, Saveable {
    public void print() { System.out.println("Printing report"); }
    public void save()  { System.out.println("Saving report"); }
}

Object obj = new Report();

if (obj instanceof Printable p) p.print();
if (obj instanceof Saveable s) s.save();

Conversión con arrays

String[] names = {"Alice", "Bob"};
Object[] objs = names;   // upcast — implicit

objs[0] = "Charlie";     // OK — still a String

try {
    objs[0] = 42;          // ArrayStoreException at runtime!
} catch (ArrayStoreException e) {
    System.out.println("Cannot store Integer in String[]");
}

// Downcast back
String[] restored = (String[]) objs;

Ejemplo de comercio electrónico: selección del medio de pago

interface Payment { double amount(); }
record CreditCard(String last4, double amount) implements Payment {}
record CryptoPayment(String wallet, double amount) implements Payment {}
record BankWire(String iban, double amount) implements Payment {}

static void process(Payment p) {
    switch (p) {
        case CreditCard cc     -> System.out.println("Charging card *" + cc.last4());
        case CryptoPayment cp  -> System.out.println("Sending to wallet " + cp.wallet());
        case BankWire bw       -> System.out.println("Wiring to IBAN " + bw.iban());
    }
}

process(new CreditCard("4242", 99.99));
process(new CryptoPayment("0xABCD", 0.05));

Conversión a Number para operaciones matemáticas genéricas

import java.util.List;

List<Number> numbers = List.of(1, 2.5, 3L, 4.0f);

double sum = 0;
for (Number n : numbers) {
    sum += n.doubleValue(); // works for int, double, long, float
}
System.out.printf("Sum: %.1f%n", sum); // 10.5

Método de utilidad para conversiones seguras

import java.util.Optional;

public static <T> Optional<T> safeCast(Object obj, Class<T> clazz) {
    return clazz.isInstance(obj)
        ? Optional.of(clazz.cast(obj))
        : Optional.empty();
}

// Usage
Object val = "hello";
safeCast(val, String.class)
    .ifPresent(s -> System.out.println(s.toUpperCase())); // HELLO

safeCast(val, Integer.class)
    .ifPresentOrElse(
        n -> System.out.println(n),
        () -> System.out.println("Not an Integer") // prints this
    );

Errores habituales que debe evitar

// Mistake 1: integer division
double avg = 7 / 2;            // 3.0 — WRONG
double fixed = 7.0 / 2;        // 3.5 — correct

// Mistake 2: unwrapping Long as int
Long bigId = 1234567890123L;
// int id = (int) bigId;  // compiles but truncates!
long id = bigId;           // correct

System.out.println(avg);   // 3.0
System.out.println(fixed); // 3.5
System.out.println(id);    // 1234567890123

Comprobación rápida

int a = 7;
int b = 2;
double result = (double) a / b;
System.out.println(result);

Resumen: conversión de tipos en la práctica