Question

I want to create two functions, say

long min(long...);
int min(int...);

But when I try to invoke the second i.e min(1, 5) one I get ambiguous method call

Is there workaround except renaming?

Answer 1

It is a known bug

The behaviour you describe is a bug which has been fixed with Java 7. See details in the release notes, section called “Changes in Most Specific Varargs Method Selection”.

The reason why it should compile

Variable arity comes last in determining the most specific method. The rules to determine which vararg method applies when there are several are defined in JLS 15.12.2.4 – here is an extract:

One variable arity member method named m is more specific than another variable arity member method of the same name if either:
– […]
– One member method has k parameters and the other has n parameters, where n ≥ k, and:

• The types of the parameters of the first method are U1, …, Uk-1, Uk[].
• The types of the parameters of the other method are T1, …, Tn-1, Tn[].
• For all j from 1 to n, Uj <: Tj

In your case, k = n, and U1[] = int[] and T1[] = long[] so the determination can be made if int <: long or the opposite.

In other words, the type taken into account is not int[] vs. long[] but int vs long. And it happens that int <: long so the int... method should be chosen and it should compile.

Conclusion:

The code should (and does) compile fine with Java 7 but would not compile with Java 5 or 6. The code below prints int with Java 7:

public class Test1 {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        new Test1().m(1, 2);
    }
    int m(int... i) {
        System.out.println("int");
        return 0;
    }
    long m(long... i) {
        System.out.println("long");
        return 0;
    }
}