Overriding a super class's instance variables

Question

Why are we not able to override an instance variable of a super class in a subclass?

Answer 1

He perhaps meant to try and override the value used to initialize the variable. For example,

Instead of this (which is illegal)

public abstract class A {     String help = "**no help defined -- somebody should change that***";     // ... } // ... public class B extends A {     // ILLEGAL     @Override     String help = "some fancy help message for B";     // ... } 

One should do

public abstract class A {     public String getHelp() {         return "**no help defined -- somebody should change that***";     }     // ... } // ... public class B extends A {     @Override     public String getHelp() {         return "some fancy help message for B";     // ... } 

Answer 2

Because if you changed the implementation of a data member it would quite possibly break the superclass (imagine changing a superclass's data member from a float to a String).