What is the point of "final class" in Java?

Question

I am reading a book about Java and it says that you can declare the whole class as `final`. I cannot think of anything where I'd use this. I am just new to programming and I am wondering **if programmers actually use this on their programs**. If they do, when do they use it so I can understand it better and know when to use it. If Java is object oriented, and you declare a class `final`, doesn't it stop the idea of class having the characteristics of objects?

Answer 1

Declaring a class as final means that the class can no longer be extended and used in inheritance.

Likewise a final method cannot be over-ridden in children classes.

If the designers do NOT want functionality and features to be changed in parent classes, then

declaring them as final prevents that from happening.