CODEWITHSUNDEEP
javapolymorphismoverloading
jrey
jrey

Reputation: 2183

Polymorphism and method overloading

I have a quick and straighforward question:

I have this simple class:

public class A
{
    public void m(Object o)
    {
      System.out.println("m with Object called");
    }

    public void m(Number n)
    {
       System.out.println("m with Number called");
    }
    public static void main(String[] args)
    {
       A a = new A();
       // why will m(Number) be called?
       a.m(null);
    }
}

UPDATE: actually is method with Number actually being called. Sorry about the confusion.

If I call a.m(null) it calls method with Number parameter.

My question is: why is this? where in the java language specification is this specified?

Upvotes: 27

Views: 6067

Answers (5)

irreputable
irreputable

Reputation: 45433

another related question for you to think about:

public static void main(String[] args)
{
   A a = new A();
   Object n = new Integer(1);
   a.m(n); // which method will be called?
}

Upvotes: 8

Awi
Awi

Reputation: 295

My 2 cents. Method with Number argument is the one that is called, Because Number extends Object. I had a similar situation in the past, I did override a method and put Component instead of JComponent (by mistake). It took me one week to find out the reason why my method was never called. I figure it out, that if there are some inheritance relationship between the overloaded methods, the JVM matches first the deeper one in the class hierarchy.

Upvotes: 1

Aravind Yarram
Aravind Yarram

Reputation: 80166

  1. This is not polymorphism or overriding. This is method overloading.
  2. I tested this and specific method is being called (not the m(Object)) and according to the spec the specific method is always called. Which overload will get selected for null in Java?

Upvotes: 12

axtavt
axtavt

Reputation: 242686

First of all, it actually calls m(Number).

It happens because both methods are applicable, but m(Number) is the most specific method, since any argument of m(Number) can be passed to m(Object), but not vice versa.

If you replace m(Object) by m(String) (or add another method such as m(Date)), compiler would report ambiguity, since the most specific method can't be identified.

See the section Choosing the Most Specific Method in the Java Specification.

Upvotes: 27

Yanick Rochon
Yanick Rochon

Reputation: 53521

Object is the default type in Java. If you refactor your m(Object o) method to m(String o) you'll have a compile time error saying that the call m(null) is ambiguous because Java cannot determine which class between String and Number defaults to null

Other than that, between m(Object o) and m(Number o), calling m(null) will call m(Number o) because it's the most specialized method. You would need to cast null into an Object (or anything not an instance of Number) otherwise.

a.m((String) null);

Upvotes: 0

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