In the below program I am overriding a static and a instance method, When I call the instance method using the superclass it is executing the subclass method, but in case of the static method it is executing superclass static method. Why is this?
class Superclass
{
public void print()
{
System.out.println("superclass print");
}
public static void staticPrint()
{
System.out.println("Superclass static print");
}
}
public class Subclass extends Superclass
{
public static void staticPrint()
{
System.out.print("subclass staticPrint");
}
public void print()
{
System.out.println("subclass print");
}
public static void main(String... args)
{
Subclass subclass=new Subclass();
Superclass superclass=subclass;
superclass.staticPrint();
superclass.print();
}
}
Output:
Superclass static print
subclass print
Static methods cannot be overridden, the can only be hidden, as for variables.
Take a look here for further details:
If a subclass defines a static method with the same signature as a static method in the superclass, then the method in the subclass hides the one in the superclass.
The distinction between hiding a static method and overriding an instance method has important implications:
The version of the overridden instance method that gets invoked is the one in the subclass.
The version of the hidden static method that gets invoked depends on whether it is invoked from the superclass or the subclass.
There is no method overriding for static methods. superclass.staticPrint() is equivalent to Superclass.staticPrint().
The type of the instance referred by the superclass variable doesn't matter at all when calling a static method. It can even contain null and the static method staticPrint() of Superclass class will still be executed.
first of all a static method cannot be overridden.
when referring to a static method or variable, it will always use the default of the class declared
Subclass subclass=new Subclass();
Superclass superclass=subclass;
superclass.staticPrint();
a static method does not need to be instantiated. the only important thing is that superclass was declared as type Superclass.
while an instance method will always refer to its "Instance" implementation as the implementation is dependent on state of an object.
Subclass subclass=new Subclass();
Superclass superclass=subclass;
superclass.staticPrint();
superclass.print();
since superclass was instantiated as a Subclass. it will call the subclass implementation since an instance method requires a state to execute.
Related
I'd like to know:
Why can't static methods be overridden in Java?
Can static methods be overloaded in Java?
Static methods can not be overridden in the exact sense of the word, but they can hide parent static methods
In practice it means that the compiler will decide which method to execute at the compile time, and not at the runtime, as it does with overridden instance methods.
For a neat example have a look here.
And this is java documentation explaining the difference between overriding instance methods and hiding class (static) methods.
Overriding: Overriding in Java simply means that the particular method would be called based on the run time type of the object and
not on the compile time type of it (which is the case with overriden
static methods)
Hiding: Parent class methods that are static are not part of a child class (although they are accessible), so there is no question of
overriding it. Even if you add another static method in a subclass,
identical to the one in its parent class, this subclass static method
is unique and distinct from the static method in its parent class.
Static methods can not be overridden because there is nothing to override, as they would be two different methods. For example
static class Class1 {
public static int Method1(){
return 0;
}
}
static class Class2 extends Class1 {
public static int Method1(){
return 1;
}
}
public static class Main {
public static void main(String[] args){
//Must explicitly chose Method1 from Class1 or Class2
Class1.Method1();
Class2.Method1();
}
}
And yes static methods can be overloaded just like any other method.
Static methods cannot be overridden because they are not dispatched on the object instance at runtime. The compiler decides which method gets called.
This is why you get a compiler warning when you write
MyClass myObject = new MyClass();
myObject.myStaticMethod();
// should be written as
MyClass.myStaticMethod()
// because it is not dispatched on myObject
myObject = new MySubClass();
myObject.myStaticMethod();
// still calls the static method in MyClass, NOT in MySubClass
Static methods can be overloaded (meaning that you can have the same method name for several methods as long as they have different parameter types).
Integer.parseInt("10");
Integer.parseInt("AA", 16);
Parent class methods that are static are not part of a child class (although they are accessible), so there is no question of overriding it. Even if you add another static method in a subclass, identical to the one in its parent class, this subclass static method is unique and distinct from the static method in its parent class.
Static methods can not be overridden because they are not part of the object's state. Rather, they belongs to the class (i.e they are class methods). It is ok to overload static (and final) methods.
Overloading is also called static binding, so as soon as the word static is used it means a static method cannot show run-time polymorphism.
We cannot override a static method but presence of different implementations of the same static method in a super class and its sub class is valid. Its just that the derived class will hide the implementations of the base class.
For static methods, the method call depends on the type of reference and not which object is being referred, i.e. Static method belongs only to a class and not its instances , so the method call is decided at the compile time itself.
Whereas in case of method overloading static methods can be overloaded iff they have diff number or types of parameters. If two methods have the same name and the same parameter list then they cannot be defined different only by using the 'static' keyword.
If I m calling the method by using SubClass name MysubClass then subclass method display what it means static method can be overridden or not
class MyClass {
static void myStaticMethod() {
System.out.println("Im in sta1");
}
}
class MySubClass extends MyClass {
static void myStaticMethod() {
System.out.println("Im in sta123");
}
}
public class My {
public static void main(String arg[]) {
MyClass myObject = new MyClass();
myObject.myStaticMethod();
// should be written as
MyClass.myStaticMethod();
// calling from subclass name
MySubClass.myStaticMethod();
myObject = new MySubClass();
myObject.myStaticMethod();
// still calls the static method in MyClass, NOT in MySubClass
}
}
No,Static methods can't be overriden as it is part of a class rather than an object.
But one can overload static method.
Static methods are a method whose single copy is shared by all the objects of the class. A static method belongs to the class rather than objects. since static methods are not dependent on the objects, Java Compiler need not wait till the creation of the objects so to call a static method we use syntax like ClassName.method() ;
In the case of method overloading, methods should be in the same class to overload.even if they are declared as static it is possible to overload them as,
Class Sample
{
static int calculate(int a,int b,int c)
{
int res = a+b+c;
return res;
}
static int calculate(int a,int b)
{
int res = a*b;
return res;
}
}
class Test
{
public static void main(String []args)
{
int res = Sample.calculate(10,20,30);
}
}
But in the case of method overriding, the method in the super class and the method in the sub class act as a different method. the super class will have its own copy and the sub class will have its own copy so it does not come under method overriding.
class SuperType {
public static void classMethod(){
System.out.println("Super type class method");
}
public void instancemethod(){
System.out.println("Super Type instance method");
}
}
public class SubType extends SuperType{
public static void classMethod(){
System.out.println("Sub type class method");
}
public void instancemethod(){
System.out.println("Sub Type instance method");
}
public static void main(String args[]){
SubType s=new SubType();
SuperType su=s;
SuperType.classMethod();// Prints.....Super type class method
su.classMethod(); //Prints.....Super type class method
SubType.classMethod(); //Prints.....Sub type class method
}
}
This example for static method overriding
Note: if we call a static method with object reference, then reference type(class) static method will be called, not object class static method.
Static method belongs to class only.
static methods are class level methods.
Hiding concept is used for static methods.
See : http://www.coderanch.com/how-to/java/OverridingVsHiding
The very purpose of using the static method is to access the method of a class without creating an instance for it.It will make no sense if we override that method since they will be accessed by classname.method()
No, you cannot override a static method. The static resolves against the class, not the instance.
public class Parent {
public static String getCName() {
return "I am the parent";
}
}
public class Child extends Parent {
public static String getCName() {
return "I am the child";
}
}
Each class has a static method getCName(). When you call on the Class name it behaves as you would expect and each returns the expected value.
#Test
public void testGetCNameOnClass() {
assertThat(Parent.getCName(), is("I am the parent"));
assertThat(Child.getCName(), is("I am the child"));
}
No surprises in this unit test. But this is not overriding.This declaring something that has a name collision.
If we try to reach the static from an instance of the class (not a good practice), then it really shows:
private Parent cp = new Child();
`enter code here`
assertThat(cp.getCName(), is("I am the parent"));
Even though cp is a Child, the static is resolved through the declared type, Parent, instead of the actual type of the object. For non-statics, this is resolved correctly because a non-static method can override a method of its parent.
You can overload a static method but you can't override a static method. Actually you can rewrite a static method in subclasses but this is not called a override because override should be related to polymorphism and dynamic binding. The static method belongs to the class so has nothing to do with those concepts. The rewrite of static method is more like a shadowing.
I design a code of static method overriding.I think It is override easily.Please clear me how its unable to override static members.Here is my code-
class Class1 {
public static int Method1(){
System.out.println("true");
return 0;
}
}
class Class2 extends Class1 {
public static int Method1(){
System.out.println("false");
return 1;
}
}
public class Mai {
public static void main(String[] args){
Class2 c=new Class2();
//Must explicitly chose Method1 from Class1 or Class2
//Class1.Method1();
c.Method1();
}
}
It’s actually pretty simple to understand – Everything that is marked static belongs to the class only, for example static method cannot be inherited in the sub class because they belong to the class in which they have been declared. Refer static keyword.
The best answer i found of this question is:
http://www.geeksforgeeks.org/can-we-overload-or-override-static-methods-in-java/
As any static method is part of class not instance so it is not possible to override static method
From Why doesn't Java allow overriding of static methods?
Overriding depends on having an instance of a class. The point of polymorphism is that you can subclass a class and the objects implementing those subclasses will have different behaviors for the same methods defined in the superclass (and overridden in the subclasses). A static method is not associated with any instance of a class so the concept is not applicable.
There were two considerations driving Java's design that impacted this. One was a concern with performance: there had been a lot of criticism of Smalltalk about it being too slow (garbage collection and polymorphic calls being part of that) and Java's creators were determined to avoid that. Another was the decision that the target audience for Java was C++ developers. Making static methods work the way they do have the benefit of familiarity for C++ programmers and were also very fast because there's no need to wait until runtime to figure out which method to call.
Definitely, we cannot override static methods in Java.
Because JVM resolves correct overridden method based upon the object at run-time by using dynamic binding in Java.
However, the static method in Java is associated with Class rather than the object and resolved and bonded during compile time.
This question already has answers here:
Are static methods inherited in Java?
(15 answers)
Closed 4 years ago.
From what I understand, usually the static method should be called using class's reference or it can be called directly without reference if its in a static method or static block.
But does this apply when static method is called from child class static blocks?
Why it allows such thing, as static methods are not inherited, it should only be allowed using parent class name right?
public abstract class abs {
/**
* #param args
*/
abstract void m();
static void n(){
System.out.println("satic method");
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
// TODO Auto-generated method stub
}
}
class myclass extends abs{
#Override
void m() {
// TODO Auto-generated method stub
}
static{
n();
}
}
Why my child class static block can call parent class static method without reference or classname?
Static method n() is inherited by subclass myclass, so you can call it directly in the static block of myclass.
Usually the static method should be called using class's reference or
it can be called directly without reference if its in a static method
or static block.
Not really. For example an instance method can invoke a static method without prefixing the class.
More generally, static members (fields as methods) have to be invoked by prefixing their class only as the compiler cannot infer the class where they belong to.
As you invoke a static method defined in the parent class from a subclass (and static methods are inherited in the subclasses), you don't need to prefix the class of the method invocation as the compiler infer that.
Because you inherited the parent class, you have access to all non private members of that class directly as if it belonged to the child class.
Why it allows such thing
By inheritance.
as static methods are not inherited
You keep saying that. You're mistaken. From JLS #8.4.8:
A class C inherits from its direct superclass all concrete methods m (both static and instance) of the superclass for which all of the following are true: ...
For continuation see here.
All the members of superclass are inherited by subclass, which includes static methods too.
class SuperClassA {
static void superclassmethod() {
System.out.println("superclassmethod in Superclass ");
}
}
public class SubClassA extends SuperClassA {
static {
superclassmethod();
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
}
}
But when a static method of superclass is override it hides the superclass static method not overrides it.
In Java Programming, Can we call a static method of an abstract class?
Yes I know we can't use static with a method of an abstract class. but I want to know why.. ?
In Java you can have a static method in an abstract class:
abstract class Foo {
static void bar() { }
}
This is allowed because that method can be called directly, even if you do not have an instance of the abstract class:
Foo.bar();
However, for the same reason, you can't declare a static method to be abstract. Normally, the compiler can guarantee that an abstract method will have a real implementation any time that it is called, because you can't create an instance of an abstract class. But since a static method can be called directly, making it abstract would make it possible to call an undefined method.
abstract class Foo {
abstract static void bar();
}
// Calling a method with no body!
Foo.bar();
In an interface, all methods are implicitly abstract. This is why an interface cannot declare a static method. (There's no architectural reason why an interface couldn't have a static method, but I suspect the writers of the JLS felt that that would encourage misuse of interfaces)
If you are talking about java, answer is Yes But you need to define the static method. You cannot create an abstract static method. What you can create is non abstract static method.
Reason is you do not need a object instance to access a static method, so you need the method to be defined with a certain functionality.
so you cannot have,
abstract class AbstractClassExample{
abstract static void method();
}
But you can have,
abstract class AbstractClassExample{
static void method(){}
}
Hope this helps...
Here is a simple explanation.Abstract methods must be implemented later.We know that static methods cannot be overridden because static methods do not belong to any particular instance, rather it belongs to the class.Then different implementation of abstract method,which is static, in different classes is counter-intuitive.
Yes, of course you can define the static method in abstract class.
you can call that static method by using abstract class,or by using child class who extends the abstract class.Also you can able to call static method through child class instance/object.
To illustrate further test following example.
//Parent class
public abstract class TestAbstractClass {
static void testStaticMethod(){
System.out.println("In Parent class static method");
}
}
//child class
public class ChildClass extends TestAbstractClass {
public static void main(String[] args) {
TestAbstractClass parentObj = new ChildClass();
parentObj .testStaticMethod();
ChildClass childObj = new ChildClass();
childObj.testStaticMethod();
TestAbstractClass.testStaticMethod();
childClass.testStaticMethod();
}
}
From Java 9 onwards you can have static methods in an interface. However, the implementation must be provided in the block itself. Unlike static methods in a class, a static method in an interface is not inherited by implementation through a class or subinterface.
An abstract can contain a static method. It is because a static method though not overridden can be hidden.
But an abstract method cannot be declared static at the same time as an abstract method must be overridden ans implemented by a subclass's method and declaring it static will prevent overriding.
In other words, you cannot use abstract and static keywords to declare the same method. However, you can have a static method inside an abstract class.
The below program is giving compilation error in line "obj.method()" inside the main method. The error is "The method method() from the type Superclass is not visible". From my understanding it should be able to access public method of subclass. can anyone explain the concept behind it?
class Superclass{
private void method(){
System.out.println("Inside superclass method");
}
}
public class MyClass extends Superclass{
public void method(){
System.out.println("Inside subclass method");
}
public static void main(String s[]){
Superclass obj = new MyClass();
obj.method();
}
}
From my understanding it should be able to access public method of subclass.
Yes, but only when the compile-time type of the expression you're calling it on is that subclass.
So if you change your code to:
MyClass obj = new MyClass();
then it should be fine. Currently, the compile-time type of obj is just Superclass, which doesn't have a public method method.
Also note that MyClass.method does not override Superclass.method. A call to method() within Superclass would only call Superclass.method() even if the actual type of the object was MyClass.
method is declared private in Superclass. private means that it will only be accessible within that class. If you want subclasses to be able to access it (or override it), you have to declare it protected instead.
obj has reference of SuperClass. So it can only see SuperClass methods which are protected,default or public.
Private methods are visible only inside the class.
No Overriding happens here.
I have a super class:
public class SuperClass {
public void dosomething() {
firstMethod();
secondMethod();
}
public void firstMethod() {
System.out.println("Super first method");
}
public void secondMethod() {
System.out.println("Super second method");
}
}
A sub class:
public class SubClass extends SuperClass {
public void dosomething() {
super.dosomething();
}
public void firstMethod() {
System.out.println("Sub first method");
}
public void secondMethod() {
System.out.println("Sub second method");
}
}
A test class：
public static void main(String[] args) {
SubClass sub = new SubClass();
sub.dosomething();
SuperClass sup = new SuperClass();
sup.dosomething()
}
when I run the test method, I got this:
Sub first method
Sub second method
Can you tell me how this happened? In the sub class dosomething method, I called super.dosomething() and I think the super method will be called, but the override method in sub class was called.
if I do this:
SuperClass superClass = new SuperClass();
superClass.dosomething();
the result is:
Super first method
Super second method
The difference is method invocation place. I think there must be something I don`t know ):
oops！the super reference pointed to subclass in the first example...
like this:
SuperClass sub = new SubClass();
sub.firstMethod();
sub.secondMethod();
In java, the methods binding is always dynamic [ignoring static and private methods here]. Thus, when you override firstMethod() and secondMethod(), any time an object of type SubClass will try to invoke one of them - the overriden method will be invoked - even if it [the invokation] is from the parent's method.
So, as expected - when you invoke super.doSomething(), it calls firstMethod() and secondMethod(), and the overriden methods are being called.
Your object on which the methods are invoked is of type SubClass, not SuperClass. Even if you call a method that is only defined in SuperClass, your execution context remains SubClass. So any method that is invoked that is overridden will in fact execute the overridden method.
The thing to take away from this is that by declaring firstMethod and secondMethod as public, SuperClass is in fact allowing subclasses to override their behaviour. If this is not appropriate, the methods should be private, or final.
Indeed the super doSomething gets called. Do something calls firstMethod and secondMethod, which are virtual methods (any method in Java is by default virtual, which means it can be overriden). So their overriden versions gets called.
You can prevent them from being overriden if you mark them final.
Super.dosomething() does in fact call the method dosomething() in Super class. But inside this method, you call 2 functions which are firstMethod and secondMethod. These methods are overwritten in the Sub class and they are being called from the Sub Class.
As Petar Ivanov suggested:
You can prevent them from being overriden if you mark them final