Programmer's Guide to Java™ Certification, A: A Comprehensive Primer, Second Edition

6.6. Assigning, Passing, and Casting Reference Values

Reference values, like primitive values, can be assigned, cast, and passed as arguments. For values of the primitive data types and reference types, conversions can occur during

• assignment

• parameter passing

• explicit casting

The rule of thumb for the primitive data types is that widening conversions are permitted, but narrowing conversions require an explicit cast. The rule of thumb for reference values is that conversions up the type hierarchy are permitted (upcasting), but conversions down the hierarchy require explicit casting (downcasting). In other words, conversions that are from a subtype to its supertypes are allowed, other conversions require an explicit cast or are illegal. There is ...