Question

How to call Super::printThree from Super::Super()?
In the example below I call Test::printThree instead.

class Super {
        Super() { 
        printThree(); // I want Super::printThree here!
        }
        void printThree() { System.out.println("three"); }
}
class Test extends Super {
        int three = 3
        public static void main(String[] args) {
                Test t = new Test();
                t.printThree();
        }
        void printThree() { System.out.println(three); }
}

output:
0    //Test::printThree from Super::Super()
3    //Test::printThree from t.printThree()

Answer 1

You can’t – it’s a method which has been overridden in the subclass; you can’t force a non-virtual method call. If you want to call a method non-virtually, either make the method private or final.

In general it’s a bad idea to call a non-final method within a constructor for precisely this reason – the subclass constructor body won’t have been executed yet, so you’re effectively calling a method in an environment which hasn’t been fully initialized.