Inheritance in Postgresql ?

Hello

I am not an expert for database but rarely design database for Web and IVR
applications.

Today I wonder if there is any practical advantage of inheritance of Tables.

Lets take the same example that is commonly referred.

CREATE TABLE cities (
name text,
population float,
altitude int -- in feet
);

CREATE TABLE capitals (
state char(2)
) INHERITS (cities);

Capital table inherit attributes from Cities but no data. I am
confused with concept of inheritance in postgres.

In These tables what i was supposing is inheritence as that in JAVA. but its
seems to be a different scene.

Can some one Please compare inheritence in JAVA and Postgresql OR make me
clear about for what inheritance is introduced in Postgres.

--
Best Regards
Shakeel Abbas