Operator Overloading (Polymorphism in Java)

Operator Overloading (Polymorphism in Java)

• Another cool feature of Java is that methods in Java can easily be overloaded such that the same method name can be used for several different implementations of the same action. Remember our previous example of printNumber(), printLetter(), printImage()?

• The only requirement for overloading is that each version of the method takes a different set of parameters as arguments (sometimes, we say that it has a "different signature") such as in the following example:

  int add(int a, int b)
    {
    return (a+b);
    }
  
  double add(double a, double b)
    {
    return (a+b);
    }
  
  float add(float a, float b)
    {
    return (a+b);
    }
  

• Finally, it is worth noting that since methods belong to specific classes, it is fine for you to have the same method name with the same arguments in different classes. Thus, the Button class might have a setLabel(String s) method and a Label might have a setLabel(String s) method and neither will conflict since each method is specific to a specific class.

Additional Resources:

• Learning to Write Java
• Introducing Java (TM) - Your First Applet
• Java FAQs
• Java Software
• java.sun.com
• Sun Microsystems

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Ineheritance