Inheritance and the "this" keyword

Question

Suppose that we have next situation:

Parent class A:

class A{  
    public A(){}
    public doSomething(){  
        System.out.println(this.getClass());
    }
}

with a child class B:

class B extends A{  
    public B(){}
    public void doSomething(){
        super.doSomething();
        System.out.println(this.getClass());
    }
}

and Main class:

class Main{  
    public static void main(String[] args){
        A ab=new B();
        ab.doSomething();
    }
}

When I execute this code result is

B  
B

Why does this, referenced in superclass A, returns B as a class when the reference is of type A?

Answer 1

It doesn't matter what the reference is, it's the instantiated object's class that counts. The object that you're creating is of type B, therefore this.getClass() is always going to return B.