Question

I have this following code and I need some clarification regarding the overloading concept.

class Overload{
    static void print(Object o){
        System.out.println("object");
    }
    static void print(String s){
        System.out.println("string");
    }
    public static void main(String...args){
        print("Hello");
    }
}

when I execute this, the output is String. Eventhough object is the super class, why does it display string instead of object?

thanks in advance

Answer 1

The rule in this case is:

the more specific signature will apply

String is more specific than Object, that’s why print(String) is used. For instance, try with print(null) in your main, you will see find out that such code will not even compile, since the compiler will have no way to distinguish whether null is a String or an Object

Check out Oracle Overloading Tutorial