If a class has multiple methods having same name but different in parameters, it is known as Method Overloading. Show
If we have to perform only one operation, having same name of the methods increases the readability of the program. Suppose you have to perform addition of the given numbers but there can be any number of arguments, if you write the method such as a(int,int) for two parameters, and b(int,int,int) for three parameters then it may be difficult for you as well as other programmers to understand the behavior of the method because its name differs. So, we perform method overloading to figure out the program quickly. Advantage of method overloadingMethod overloading increases the readability of the program. Different ways to overload the methodThere are two ways to overload the method in java
In Java, Method Overloading is not possible by changing the return type of the method only.1) Method Overloading: changing no. of argumentsIn this example, we have created two methods, first add() method performs addition of two numbers and second add method performs addition of three numbers. In this example, we are creating static methods so that we don't need to create instance for calling methods. class Adder{ static int add(int a,int b){return a+b;} static int add(int a,int b,int c){return a+b+c;} } class TestOverloading1{ public static void main(String[] args){ System.out.println(Adder.add(11,11)); System.out.println(Adder.add(11,11,11)); }} Test it NowOutput: 2) Method Overloading: changing data type of argumentsIn this example, we have created two methods that differs in data type. The first add method receives two integer arguments and second add method receives two double arguments. class Adder{ static int add(int a, int b){return a+b;} static double add(double a, double b){return a+b;} } class TestOverloading2{ public static void main(String[] args){ System.out.println(Adder.add(11,11)); System.out.println(Adder.add(12.3,12.6)); }} Test it NowOutput: Q) Why Method Overloading is not possible by changing the return type of method only?In java, method overloading is not possible by changing the return type of the method only because of ambiguity. Let's see how ambiguity may occur: class Adder{ static int add(int a,int b){return a+b;} static double add(int a,int b){return a+b;} } class TestOverloading3{ public static void main(String[] args){ System.out.println(Adder.add(11,11));//ambiguity }} Test it NowOutput: Compile Time Error: method add(int,int) is already defined in class Adder System.out.println(Adder.add(11,11)); //Here, how can java determine which sum() method should be called? Note: Compile Time Error is better than Run Time Error. So, java compiler renders compiler time error if you declare the same method having same parameters.Can we overload java main() method?Yes, by method overloading. You can have any number of main methods in a class by method overloading. But JVM calls main() method which receives string array as arguments only. Let's see the simple example: class TestOverloading4{ public static void main(String[] args){System.out.println("main with String[]");} public static void main(String args){System.out.println("main with String");} public static void main(){System.out.println("main without args");} } Test it NowOutput: Method Overloading and Type PromotionOne type is promoted to another implicitly if no matching datatype is found. Let's understand the concept by the figure given below: As displayed in the above diagram, byte can be promoted to short, int, long, float or double. The short datatype can be promoted to int, long, float or double. The char datatype can be promoted to int,long,float or double and so on. Example of Method Overloading with TypePromotionclass OverloadingCalculation1{ void sum(int a,long b){System.out.println(a+b);} void sum(int a,int b,int c){System.out.println(a+b+c);} public static void main(String args[]){ OverloadingCalculation1 obj=new OverloadingCalculation1(); obj.sum(20,20);//now second int literal will be promoted to long obj.sum(20,20,20); } } Test it NowIf there are matching type arguments in the method, type promotion is not performed. class OverloadingCalculation2{ void sum(int a,int b){System.out.println("int arg method invoked");} void sum(long a,long b){System.out.println("long arg method invoked");} public static void main(String args[]){ OverloadingCalculation2 obj=new OverloadingCalculation2(); obj.sum(20,20);//now int arg sum() method gets invoked } } Test it NowOutput:int arg method invoked If there are no matching type arguments in the method, and each method promotes similar number of arguments, there will be ambiguity. class OverloadingCalculation3{ void sum(int a,long b){System.out.println("a method invoked");} void sum(long a,int b){System.out.println("b method invoked");} public static void main(String args[]){ OverloadingCalculation3 obj=new OverloadingCalculation3(); obj.sum(20,20);//now ambiguity } } Test it NowOutput:Compile Time Error Next TopicMethod Overriding in java
Method overloading in java is based on the number and type of the parameters passed as an argument to the methods. We can not define more than one method with the same name, Order, and type of the arguments. It would be a compiler error. The compiler does not consider the return type while differentiating the overloaded method. But you cannot declare two methods with the same signature and different return types. It will throw a compile-time error. If both methods have the same parameter types, but different return types, then it is not possible. Java can distinguish the methods with different method signatures. i.e. the methods can have the same name but with different parameters list (i.e. the number of the parameters, the order of the parameters, and data types of the parameters) within the same class. Geeks, now you would be up to why do we need method overloading? If we need to do some kind of operation in different ways i.e. for different inputs. In the example described below, we are doing the addition operation for different inputs. It is hard to find many meaningful names for a single action. Ways of Overloading MethodsMethod overloading can be done by changing:
Let us propose examples in order to illustrate each way while overloading methods. They are as follows: Method 1: By changing the number of parameters.
Output sum of the two integer value :3 sum of the three integer value :6 Method 2: By changing the Data types of the parameters
Output sum of the three integer value :6 sum of the three double value :6.0 Method 3: By changing the Order of the parameters
Output geekName :Mohit Id :1 geekName :shubham Id :2
Example 4
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