java - Are empty abstract classes suitable here?

Question

I'm creating a GUI module that contains custom JavaFX nodes. This is the basic hierarchy of this module:

GuiElement looks like this:

public abstract class GuiElement<T extends Region> {

    private T rootNode;

    final void setRootNode(T val) {
        rootNode = val;
    }

    final T getRootNode() {
        return rootNode;
    }

}

Layout and Control are just empty abstract classes that extend GuiElement. I created the separation, because I want to prevent putting Layout type nodes where Control type nodes only are allowed. I think Layout and Control are "marker interfaces" in this case. From a logical point, there's no difference between Layout and Control type of node, so I couldn't offer any related function in those abstract classes.

Is this considered as a bad practice? Is there any better solution for my problem?

question from:https://stackoverflow.com/questions/66064118/are-empty-abstract-classes-suitable-here

Answer 1

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