Program to an Interface, not implementation

Let’s refresh a classic definition: objects in a program should be replaceable with instances of their subtypes without altering the correctness of the program.

In the world of PHP it often means programming to an interface: when a class uses an implementation of an interface, it must be able to use any implementation of that interface without requiring any modifications. Here is a classic example of a repository and a controller:

<?php
interface PostsRepositoryInterface 
{
    // fetches all posts
    public function all();
}

// Controller code

public function index(PostsRepositoryInterface $repo)
{
    $posts = $repo->all();
    // some other logic
}

Here we are not coupled to a specific storage and we may change it without touching controllers logic. We can implement MysqlPostsRepository or MongoPostsRepository or even RedisPostsRepository and everything will continue to work in our controller.

Without using PostsRepositoryInterface we should check the instance of an object passed to a controller and choose a specific logic for it. For example different connections to storages and so on. Of course, we can simply define methods with the same name, but our client code does not know anything about them without an interface. When client code sees that an object implements an interface, it knows what public methods are callable.

<?php
public function index($repo)
{
    if ($repo instanceof MysqlPostsRepository) {
        // ...
    } elseif ($repo instance of MongoPostsRepository) {
        // ...
    }
    elseif ($repo instance of RedisPostsRepository) {
        // ...
    }
}

Not only interfaces. What about abstraction?

When we define an abstraction we also define an interface for our client code. When dealing with an interface everything was simple: we must implement all methods or there will be an error.

Within a class abstraction, everything comes more tricky. In child classes, we can override and change the behavior of their parent. And PHP will not complain. For example, if a parent class returns a string from its method, we can override it and return an array in a child. From PHP’s point of view, everything is fine. In a parent class a method gets an array as a parameter, but in a child, you can change this behavior and wait for a number as a method parameter. Everything you like!

And when PHP is silent, LSP says: “Hey, Child classes should never break the parent class’ type definitions”. But why? PHP does not complain about it. Why should I care about type definitions?

The answer is in the question. The key word here is type. You should care about types because when you define a new class, you define a new type in your language. And like a creator you have a full access to define rules for this new type. That’s why PHP is silent here. You simply say:“Hey, PHP, your basic types are not enough for me, so I’m going to create a new one.”. And PHP has nothing else to do but to listen to you. PHP says: “OK, go and create a new type!”.

After this dialog with PHP and after creating a new data type it’s your responsibility to achieve the same behavior of objects in a hierarchy. As soon as we have a parent class and a child, we have a hierarchy. And we have additional responsibilities.

<?php

abstract class Vehicle 
{     
    public function startEngine() 
    {
        // Default engine start functionality                
    }
     
    public function accelerate() 
    {
        // Default acceleration functionality
    }
}


class Car extends Vehicle
{
    // Empty class
}

class Motorcycle extends Vehicle
{
    // Empty class
}

In the example above we have our parent class, which defines a new data type Vehicle. The characteristics of this data type are described in two public methods. Under abstract class we have two empty child classes, they are our data type specializations. While they are empty they behave exactly the same as the parent type Vehicle. When creating an empty child class that extends another one, instances of the empty child class will inherit all the public and protected properties and methods of the parent. Everything is clear.

But problems arrive when we begin to add a new code to child classes. It’s important not to alter the characteristics of the parent’s interface. Of course, we can override parent methods in order to get the specialized behavior in child classes, but we should implement these changes very carefully. We should care to ensure that child’s methods are compatible with parent’s specification. There are three rules to achieve this.

Rule 1. Input parameters.

This rule is about the parameters of the overriding methods. The number of the input parameters in child class’ method should be the same or more than the number of the input parameters in the parent’s method. And of course, according to the number of parameters, we should pay attention to their data types. These types should be the same or more generic than the types of the parent’s method parameters. Maybe it sounds a bit complex, let’s see an example.

<?php

abstract class Mechanic
{
    public function fixVehicle(Car $car)
    {
        // implementation
        return $car;
    }

}

// Vehicle data type hierarchy
class Vehicle
{
    
}

class Car extends Vehicle
{

}

class SportsCar extends Car
{
    
}

In the previous example pay attention to Mechanic class. It requires an instance of Car in a call of fixVehicle method. Let’s create a child of Mechanic class.

<?php

class SportsCarMechanic extends Mechanic
{
    public function fixVehicle(Car $car)
    {
        // implementation
        return $car;
    }
}

The input parameters in the child SportCarMechanic class are the same as in the parent’s method. Nothing to worry here. Now let’s change the method’s singature, so our SportCarMechanic class requires an instance of SportCarVehicle.

<?php

class SportsCarMechanic extends Mechanic
{
    public function fixVehicle(SportsCar $car)
    {
        return $car;
    }

}

The code seems to be quite logical. Our specialized Mechanic class requires a specialized Car version, right? But it’s completely wrong. Our mind tells us that logically it’s OK, but it is logically right in the real world, not in OOP world.

Our client code consider the abstract parent class as the single source of truth about it’s data type. And it says that variables of data type Mechanic have fixVehicle method, that accepts an instance of Car as input parameter. So for safety our client code always provide an instance of Car to the method. But SportsCarMechanic class has broken the abstract parent’s contract, because it accepts SportCar instances or more specialized versions. When our client code sends Car instance to SportsCarMechanic method, our application dies. Why? Because of specialized version of SportCar class.

<?php

class SportCar extends Car 
{
    public function specializedMethod()
    {
        // some implementation
    }
}

class SportsCarMechanic extends Mechanic 
{
    public function fixVehicle(SportCar $car)
    {
        $car->specializedMethod(); // !!!
        // ...
        return $car;
    }
}

As I metioned before cliend code sends an instance of Car to all versions of Mechanic class. But SportCarMechanic requires an instance of SportCar, because it uses it’s method specializedMethod which does not exist in Car data type. And here our application successfully dies. How to fix it? Simply replace the type hint of $car parameter to more generic one.

<?php

class SportsCarMechanic extends Mechanic 
{
    public function fixVehicle(Car $car)
    {
        // ...
        return $car;
    }
}

I know that it does not look logical in a real world. It looks wrong. It sounds wrogns. But according to OOP it is right. Now our SportsCarMechanic class does not break it’s parent contract.

Rule 2. Return values.

The second rule is about the return values from the overriden method. The types of the returned values of the overriden method should be the same or more specific as the types returned by the same method in the parent class.

This rule is much easier to understand than the previous one.

<?php

abstract class CarFactory 
{
    /**
     * @return Car
     */
     public function getCar()
     {
        // ... some logic
        return new Car;
     }
}

class SportCarFactory
{
    public function getCar()
    {
        return new SportCar();
    }
}

PHP does not allow us to define return types of the methods, so it’s our job to tell in doc blocks about return types. Let’s come back to our client code that work with CarFactory class. The client code considers our CarFactory as the data type that will return an instance of Car from getCar method. In SportCarFactory class we return an instance of SportCar class, which itself is an instance of Car class. So there are no suprises here for our client code.

But what if we return a instance of a more generic type, for example an instance of Vehicle class.

<?php

class SportCarFactory 
{
    public function getCar()
    {
        return new Vehicle();
    }
}

And again from PHP’s point of view there is no criminal here. And even logically it looks right: Vehicle class is the parent of Car, so they both may be considered as objects of the same data type. But the problem here is that Vehicle is higher in hierachy than Car. It may happen that there will be no method in Vehicle class that our client code is expecting to call and our application here dies.

Rule 3. Exceptions.

The last rule is the easiest one. It is about throwing exceptions in the parent class and in it’s child classes. The overriden methods in child classes should throw the same or more specialized exceptions that can be thrown in the parent class. Here everything is similar to the previous rule. Let’s start with a bad example, when we violate this rule.

<?php 

class VehicleException extends Exception {}
class CarException extends Exception {}
class SportCarException extends CarException {}

abstract class CarFactory 
{
    public function getCar()
    {
        throw new CarException();
    }
}

class SportCarFactory
{
    public function getCar()
    {
        throw new VehicleException;
    }
}

We have exceptions hierarchy: Expcetion => VehicleException => CarException => SportCarException. Our client code works with an instance of SportCarFactory. Client code handles exceptions ofCarException class. But we throw an instance of VehicleException. Poor client code now has an uncaught exception and again in this case our application dies.

How to fix it? As rule says always return exceptions of the same type or more specialized.

<?php 

class SportCarFactory extends CarFactory 
{
    public function getCar()
    {
        // ...
        throw new SportCarException
    }
}

Conslusion

Many tutorials tell us that Liskov Substitution Principle is about interfaces and replaceable instances. It’s partly true. But it’s out job to know that this principle is also about types definitions, about parent’s class contract and it’s child classes specializations.