Assignment Overview: Polymorphism & Interfaces

This assignment focuses on polymorphism and interface implementation in Java. You will design and implement a console-based application to manage food product records with the following key requirements:

1. Product Data Management

   • Each product record stores a code, description, price, and category.

   • Categories include UNCLASSIFIED plus three user-defined types (e.g., MEAT, DAIRY, PRODUCE).

2. Security via Password Locking

   • Product records are protected by a password.

   • You must be able to set, lock, unlock, and check the lock state for each record.

3. Interface Design

   • Category interface: declares integer category constants and methods to set/get a product’s category.

   • PasswordLockable interface: declares methods to set a password, lock/unlock the record, and query its lock state.

   • Comparable<Product> interface: enables comparison of two products based on price.

4. Class Implementation

   • Create a Product class that:

     • Implements all three interfaces.

     • Defines private attributes for code, description, price, category, password, and locked state.

     • Allows attribute updates only when unlocked, otherwise prints a warning.

     • Converts category codes to human-readable names for display.

5. Lowest-Price Identification

   • Use the compareTo method to find and display the product(s) with the lowest price.

6. Driver Program

   • Build a ProductApp driver to demonstrate:

     • Creating several Product objects.

     • Setting and testing passwords.

     • Locking and unlocking records.

     • Attempting updates on locked records.

     • Displaying all products.

     • Locating and displaying the product(s) with the lowest price.