Class subtypes allow you to use subtype substitution and method override, which are characteristics of Java. A conversion from a class to one of its superclasses is a widening conversion; a conversion from a class to one of its subclasses is a narrowing conversion.
Widening conversions are performed implicitly with normal assignments and comparisons. They are always successful, since every subclass instance is also an instance of the superclass.
Narrowing conversions must be specified with explicit convert expressions. A narrowing conversion is successful only if the superclass instance is an instance of the subclass, or a subclass of the subclass. Otherwise, an exception occurs.
