Inheritance help needed

[LFG]

Hi,

I've created a little dummy program below to demonstrate something about inheritance I am having trouble with.

Superclass is Food with two subclasses - Pizza and SideOrders.

public abstract class Food {

    private double price;
    private String name;
    
    public Food(double price, String name) {
        this.price = price;
        this.name = name;
    }

    public double getPrice() {
        return price;
    }

    public String getName(){
        return name;
    }
}

Subclasses:

public class Pizza extends Food {

    private String description, size;

    public Pizza(double price, String name, String size, String description) {
        super(price, name);
        this.size = size;
        this.description = description;
    }

    public String getSize() {
        return size;
    }

    public String getDescription(){
        return description;
    }
}

public class SideOrder extends Food {

    public SideOrder(double price, String name){
        super(price, name);
    }
    
}

So, Pizza has variables and methods which SideOrder does not. If I was to loop through an ArrayList, like here:

public class Main {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        ArrayList<Food> Purchase = new ArrayList<Food>();
        Food pizza1 = new Pizza(9.99, "Chicken Supreme", "Large", "Description here");
        Food side1 = new SideOrder(2.99, "Garlic Bread");

        Purchase.add(pizza1);
        Purchase.add(side1);

        for(int x=0; x < Purchase.size(); x++){
            Purchase.get(x).getName();
        }
    }
}

And I wanted to call a method that exists in Pizza but not in SideOrders, how would I do it?

It's more the general idea of how to put inheritance into action that is causing me trouble as I know how to create the classes and the benefits of it, just not how to work with them.

Any help is appreicated.
Thanks

EDIT: I know the code here presents no errors as getName() is an inherited method but if I were to replace it with getSize() it would not work. I only want to call getSize() if the object is a Pizza but that's where I get lost.

[Webuser]

Emm...

you can simply inst Pizza object only and use it as it is because it ext Food =)

use code like a

Pizza pizza1 = new Pizza(9.99, "Chicken Supreme", "Large", "Description here");

[al_Marshy_1981]

If sideOrder extends pizza it will will inherit from food also so because pizza inherits from food the chain goes all the way up, so have sideOrder inherit pizza then it will have access to getSize() from pizza and getName() from food

[Tolls]

This will largely come down to your actual requirements. That is, what the system as a whole is supposed to do. You're not going to find a cookie cutter solution that applies everywhere.

So, with that in mind, your current split of classes, if size() or description() are something you need to actually use in a cycle like this, is possibly wrong. I say this because the obvious "solution" is to use:

Food food = (Food)purchase.get(x);
// note variables should start with a lower case so they don't look like class names
if (food instanceof Pizza) {
    Pizza pizza = (Pizza) food;
    doSomethingWithSize(pizza.getSize());
}

But "instanceof" is a red flag that your classes, specifically inheritance, is probably wrong.