Very interesting Abstract Class behavior. Please Help :)

[fatabass]

public abstract class MyAbstractClass {
	int age = 15;
	public void printAge() {
		System.out.println(age);
	}
}

public class ConcClassA extends MyAbstractClass {
	int age = 0;
	ConcClassA(){
		age = 45;
	}
	@Override
	public void printAge() {
		System.out.println(age);
	}
}

public class TestLearningPackage {
	public static void main(String[] args) {
		MyAbstractClass testA = new ConcClassA();
		System.out.println("testA.age : " + testA.age);
		System.out.print("testA.printAge(): ");
		testA.printAge();
	}
}

When I run this code, the output is:

testA.age : 15
testA.printAge(): 45

The question is:
When I comment out: int age = 0 the output is now: ( on line 9 )


testA.age : 45
testA.printAge(): 45

How does commenting int age = 0 changes the testA.age from 15 to 45 ?

[ozzyman]

The field 'age' in ConcClassA hides the field 'age' in its super class. If you remove this field from the sub-class, then the variable 'age' will have to refer to the field in the super class. This is nothing out of order, its normal behaviour.

Please read over:
Inheritance (The Java™ Tutorials > Learning the Java Language > Interfaces and Inheritance)