利科夫替换原则指出，如果程序模块使用基类，则基类的引用可以被派生类替换，而不会影响程序模块的功能。

派生类型必须能够完全替代它们的基类型。

示例- java中的协变返回类型。

简单来说，LSP是指同一超类的对象应该能够在不破坏任何东西的情况下相互交换。

例如，如果我们有一个从Animal类派生的Cat和Dog类，那么任何使用Animal类的函数都应该能够使用Cat或Dog，并且行为正常。

A square is a rectangle where the width equals the height. If the square sets two different sizes for the width and height it violates the square invariant. This is worked around by introducing side effects. But if the rectangle had a setSize(height, width) with precondition 0 < height and 0 < width. The derived subtype method requires height == width; a stronger precondition (and that violates lsp). This shows that though square is a rectangle it is not a valid subtype because the precondition is strengthened. The work around (in general a bad thing) cause a side effect and this weakens the post condition (which violates lsp). setWidth on the base has post condition 0 < width. The derived weakens it with height == width.

因此，可调整大小的正方形不是可调整大小的矩形。

利斯科夫替换原则(来自Mark Seemann的书)指出，我们应该能够在不破坏客户端或实现的情况下，用另一个接口的实现替换一个接口的实现。正是这一原则使我们能够解决未来出现的需求，即使我们今天不能预见它们。

If we unplug the computer from the wall (Implementation), neither the wall outlet (Interface) nor the computer (Client) breaks down (in fact, if it’s a laptop computer, it can even run on its batteries for a period of time). With software, however, a client often expects a service to be available. If the service was removed, we get a NullReferenceException. To deal with this type of situation, we can create an implementation of an interface that does “nothing.” This is a design pattern known as Null Object,[4] and it corresponds roughly to unplugging the computer from the wall. Because we’re using loose coupling, we can replace a real implementation with something that does nothing without causing trouble.

Liskov's Substitution Principle(LSP) All the time we design a program module and we create some class hierarchies. Then we extend some classes creating some derived classes. We must make sure that the new derived classes just extend without replacing the functionality of old classes. Otherwise, the new classes can produce undesired effects when they are used in existing program modules. Liskov's Substitution Principle states that if a program module is using a Base class, then the reference to the Base class can be replaced with a Derived class without affecting the functionality of the program module.

例子:

Below is the classic example for which the Liskov's Substitution Principle is violated. In the example, 2 classes are used: Rectangle and Square. Let's assume that the Rectangle object is used somewhere in the application. We extend the application and add the Square class. The square class is returned by a factory pattern, based on some conditions and we don't know the exact what type of object will be returned. But we know it's a Rectangle. We get the rectangle object, set the width to 5 and height to 10 and get the area. For a rectangle with width 5 and height 10, the area should be 50. Instead, the result will be 100

    // Violation of Likov's Substitution Principle
class Rectangle {
    protected int m_width;
    protected int m_height;

    public void setWidth(int width) {
        m_width = width;
    }

    public void setHeight(int height) {
        m_height = height;
    }

    public int getWidth() {
        return m_width;
    }

    public int getHeight() {
        return m_height;
    }

    public int getArea() {
        return m_width * m_height;
    }
}

class Square extends Rectangle {
    public void setWidth(int width) {
        m_width = width;
        m_height = width;
    }

    public void setHeight(int height) {
        m_width = height;
        m_height = height;
    }

}

class LspTest {
    private static Rectangle getNewRectangle() {
        // it can be an object returned by some factory ...
        return new Square();
    }

    public static void main(String args[]) {
        Rectangle r = LspTest.getNewRectangle();

        r.setWidth(5);
        r.setHeight(10);
        // user knows that r it's a rectangle.
        // It assumes that he's able to set the width and height as for the base
        // class

        System.out.println(r.getArea());
        // now he's surprised to see that the area is 100 instead of 50.
    }
}

结论: 这个原则只是开闭原则的延伸 意味着我们必须确保新的派生类正在扩展 基类而不改变它们的行为。

参见:开闭原则

对于更好的结构，还有一些类似的概念:约定优于配置

使用LSP的一个重要例子是在软件测试中。

如果我有一个类a，它是B的一个符合lsp的子类，那么我可以重用B的测试套件来测试a。

为了完全测试子类A，我可能需要添加更多的测试用例，但至少我可以重用所有超类B的测试用例。

实现这一点的一种方法是构建McGregor所说的“用于测试的并行层次结构”:我的ATest类将继承BTest。然后需要某种形式的注入来确保测试用例使用类型A的对象而不是类型B的对象(一个简单的模板方法模式就可以了)。

注意，对所有子类实现重用超级测试套件实际上是一种测试这些子类实现是否与lsp兼容的方法。因此，人们也可以主张应该在任何子类的上下文中运行超类测试套件。

另请参阅对Stackoverflow问题的回答“我是否可以实现一系列可重用测试来测试接口的实现?”