CODEWITHSUNDEEP
javavoid
Ryan Dougherty
Ryan Dougherty

Reputation: 538

Why does public void Void() {...} compile in Java?

I have this code:

public class Test {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        Void();
    }

    private static void Void() {
        System.out.print("Hello");
    }
}

Since java.lang.Void is a class in Java, why can that be the method name?

Upvotes: 1

Views: 288

Answers (2)

mittelmania
mittelmania

Reputation: 3561

Java is a fully object-oriented language. That means that everything, even primitive types (like int or double) has a class object in the JDK. Some examples include Integer vs. int, Boolean vs. bool and so forth. And, since every object in Java inherits from the class Object, these enable you to use boxing and unboxing (explicitly casting a class instance as an Object instance) with every type, including primitive types.

Void is simply a placeholder for the void keyword in Java. It is an uninstantiable object which has no methods or properties. And since Void's full name is java.lang.Void, you can create a class object or even a method with the same name in your own namespace, as long as you haven't explicitly imported java.lang.Void into your class file.

Upvotes: 0

Pshemo
Pshemo

Reputation: 124245

Void is not reserved keyword (void is but Java is case-sensitive so void is not equal Void). Similarly String, Integer, Boolean and so on are also not reserved.

You can use Void to name whatever you want: classes, methods, fields. But being able to do something doesn't automatically mean that you should. It is not wise creating confusion by naming methods (or something else) with names already used to represents something else.

Upvotes: 10

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