Explain the concept of method overriding and method overloading.
133
22-Jul-2024
Updated on 22-Jul-2024
Ashutosh Kumar Verma
22-Jul-2024Concept of Method Overriding and Method Overloading
Both method overriding and method overriding are important concepts in Java for classes that redefine or extend methods.
Here is a description of each,
Method Overriding
A method override occurs when a subclass provides a specific implementation of a particular method already defined in its superclass. The method signature (name, parameters, and return type) of the subclass must exactly match the method signature of the superclass. By overriding a method, a subclass can provide its own implementation of the method to refine or extend the behavior inherited from the superclass.
Key Points
Example-
In example above
Dog
overrides themakeSound()
method inherited fromAnimal
to provide its own specific behavior.Method Overloading
Method overload occurs when a class has multiple methods with the same name but different parameters ( different number of parameters, or different parameter types) Methods can have the same name but different parameter lists. This allows different methods to perform the same task by inputting different inputs or processing different data accordingly.
Key Points
Example-
In example above
The
Calculator
class defines an overriding method with threeadd()
methods, each of which takes different or different numbers of parameters.Key Differences
Inheritance Requirement
A method violation requires inheritance, where a method in a subclass replaces a method in a superclass with the same signature The overriding method does not require inheritance; in the same category or subcategory.
Signature Matching
A method violation exactly matches the method signature (name, parameters, return type), while a method overload matches the method name but differs in the number of types or parameters.
Polymorphism
Method overriding is a way to achieve runtime polymorphism, where the actual method called at runtime is determined based on the object type. An overriding method for static polymorphism, where the compiler determines which method to call based on the method's signature at compile time.
Understanding the difference between method overriding and method overriding is important for effective resource management programming in Java.
Also, Read: What are the access modifiers and their scopes in Java?