Liskov Substitution Principle (LSP)

This is a scary term for a very simple concept. It’s formally defined as “If S is a subtype of T, then objects of type T may be replaced with objects of type S (i.e., objects of type S may substitute objects of type T) without altering any of the desirable properties of that program (correctness, task performed, etc.).” That’s an even scarier definition.

The best explanation for this is if you have a parent class and a child class, then the parent class and child class can be used interchangeably without getting incorrect results. This might still be confusing, so let’s take a look at the classic Square-Rectangle example. Mathematically, a square is a rectangle, but if you model it using the “is-a” relationship via inheritance, you quickly get into trouble.

Bad:

class Rectangle {
  constructor(protected width: number = 0, protected height: number = 0) {}
  setColor(color: string): this {
    // ...
  }

  render(area: number) {
    // ...
  }

  setWidth(width: number): this {
    this.width = width;
    return this;
  }

  setHeight(height: number): this {
    this.height = height;
    return this;
  }

  getArea(): number {
    return this.width * this.height;
  }
}

class Square extends Rectangle {
  setWidth(width: number): this {
    this.width = width;
    this.height = width;
    return this;
  }

  setHeight(height: number): this {
    this.width = height;
    this.height = height;
    return this;
  }
}

function renderLargeRectangles(rectangles: Rectangle[]) {
  rectangles.forEach((rectangle) => {
    const area = rectangle.setWidth(4).setHeight(5).getArea(); // BAD: Returns 25 for Square. Should be 20.
    rectangle.render(area);
  });
}

const rectangles = [new Rectangle(), new Rectangle(), new Square()];
renderLargeRectangles(rectangles);

Good:

abstract class Shape {
  setColor(color: string): this {
    // ...
  }

  render(area: number) {
    // ...
  }

  abstract getArea(): number;
}

class Rectangle extends Shape {
  constructor(private readonly width = 0, private readonly height = 0) {
    super();
  }

  getArea(): number {
    return this.width * this.height;
  }
}

class Square extends Shape {
  constructor(private readonly length: number) {
    super();
  }

  getArea(): number {
    return this.length * this.length;
  }
}

function renderLargeShapes(shapes: Shape[]) {
  shapes.forEach((shape) => {
    const area = shape.getArea();
    shape.render(area);
  });
}

const shapes = [new Rectangle(4, 5), new Rectangle(4, 5), new Square(5)];
renderLargeShapes(shapes);