Opposite of "isAssignableFrom" for a Class object?

Question

Given a Class object, how do I check if one of its "ancestors" is a certain class? Is there an alternative to call getSuperClass several times?

Answer 1

Given a class c1, you want to know if one of its ancestors is c2?

Won't

c2.isAssignableFrom(c1)

do the trick?

Answer 2

Can you not just flip the isAssignableFrom(...) logic, as follows?

public static void main(String[] args) {
    final Cat cat = new Cat();
    final Siamese siamese = new Siamese();

    // All print true
    System.out.println(cat.isSuperclass(Animal.class));
    System.out.println(siamese.isSuperclass(Animal.class));
    System.out.println(siamese.isSuperclass(Cat.class));

    // All print false
    System.out.println(cat.isSuperclass(Siamese.class));
    System.out.println(siamese.isSuperclass(Integer.class));
}

public static class Animal {

}

public static class Cat extends Animal {

    public boolean isSuperclass(final Class<?> cls) {
        return cls.isAssignableFrom(getClass());
    }
}

public static class Siamese extends Cat {

}