Can I override and overload static methods in Java?

java static overloading overriding

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Solution 1

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.

Solution 2

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.

Solution 3

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);

Solution 4

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.

Solution 5

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.

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