Question

Is this valid Java?

import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.List;

class TestWillThatCompile {

    public static String f(List<String> list) {
        System.out.println("strings");
        return null;
    }

    public static Integer f(List<Integer> list) {
        System.out.println("numbers");
        return null;
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        f(Arrays.asList("asdf"));
        f(Arrays.asList(123));
    }

}

• Eclipse 3.5 says yes
• Eclipse 3.6 says no
• Intellij 9 says yes
• Sun javac 1.6.0_20 says yes
• GCJ 4.4.3 says yes
• GWT compiler says yes
• Crowd at my previous Stackoverflow question says no

My java theory understanding says no!

It would be interesting to know what the JLS is saying about it.

Answer 1

It depends upon how you wish to call these methods. If you wish to call these methods from other Java source code, then it is considered invalid for reasons illustrated in Edwin’s answer. This is a limitation of the Java Language.

However, not all classes need to be generated from Java source code (consider all the languages that use the JVM as their runtime: JRuby, Jython, etc…). At the bytecode level, the JVM can disambiguate the two methods because the bytecode instructions specify the return type they are expecting. For example, here is a class written in Jasmin that can call either of these methods:

.class public CallAmbiguousMethod
.super java/lang/Object

.method public static main([Ljava/lang/String;)V
  .limit stack 3
  .limit locals 1

  ; Call the method that returns String
  aconst_null
  invokestatic   TestWillThatCompile/f(Ljava/util/List;)Ljava/lang/String;

  ; Call the method that returns Integer
  aconst_null
  invokestatic   TestWillThatCompile/f(Ljava/util/List;)Ljava/lang/Integer;

  return

.end method

I compile it to a class file using the following command:

java -jar jasmin.jar CallAmbiguousMethod.j

And call it using:

java CallAmbiguousMethod

Behold, the output is:

> java CallAmbiguousMethod
strings
numbers

Update

Simon posted an example program that calls these methods:

import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.List;

class RealyCompilesAndRunsFine {

    public static String f(List<String> list) {
        return list.get(0);
    }

    public static Integer f(List<Integer> list) {
        return list.get(0);
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        final String string = f(Arrays.asList("asdf"));
        final Integer integer = f(Arrays.asList(123));
        System.out.println(string);
        System.out.println(integer);
    }

}

Here is the Java bytecode generated:

>javap -c RealyCompilesAndRunsFine
Compiled from "RealyCompilesAndRunsFine.java"
class RealyCompilesAndRunsFine extends java.lang.Object{
RealyCompilesAndRunsFine();
  Code:
   0:   aload_0
   1:   invokespecial   #1; //Method java/lang/Object."":()V
   4:   return

public static java.lang.String f(java.util.List);
  Code:
   0:   aload_0
   1:   iconst_0
   2:   invokeinterface #2,  2; //InterfaceMethod java/util/List.get:(I)Ljava/lang/Object;
   7:   checkcast       #3; //class java/lang/String
   10:  areturn

public static java.lang.Integer f(java.util.List);
  Code:
   0:   aload_0
   1:   iconst_0
   2:   invokeinterface #2,  2; //InterfaceMethod java/util/List.get:(I)Ljava/lang/Object;
   7:   checkcast       #4; //class java/lang/Integer
   10:  areturn

public static void main(java.lang.String[]);
  Code:
   0:   iconst_1
   1:   anewarray       #3; //class java/lang/String
   4:   dup
   5:   iconst_0
   6:   ldc     #5; //String asdf
   8:   aastore
   9:   invokestatic    #6; //Method java/util/Arrays.asList:([Ljava/lang/Object;)Ljava/util/List;
   12:  invokestatic    #7; //Method f:(Ljava/util/List;)Ljava/lang/String;
   15:  astore_1
   16:  iconst_1
   17:  anewarray       #4; //class java/lang/Integer
   20:  dup
   21:  iconst_0
   22:  bipush  123
   24:  invokestatic    #8; //Method java/lang/Integer.valueOf:(I)Ljava/lang/Integer;
   27:  aastore
   28:  invokestatic    #6; //Method java/util/Arrays.asList:([Ljava/lang/Object;)Ljava/util/List;
   31:  invokestatic    #9; //Method f:(Ljava/util/List;)Ljava/lang/Integer;
   34:  astore_2
   35:  getstatic       #10; //Field java/lang/System.out:Ljava/io/PrintStream;
   38:  aload_1
   39:  invokevirtual   #11; //Method java/io/PrintStream.println:(Ljava/lang/String;)V
   42:  getstatic       #10; //Field java/lang/System.out:Ljava/io/PrintStream;
   45:  aload_2
   46:  invokevirtual   #12; //Method java/io/PrintStream.println:(Ljava/lang/Object;)V
   49:  return

It turns out the Sun compiler is generating the bytecode necessary to disambiguate the methods (see instructions 12 and 31 in the last method).

Update #2

The Java Language Specification suggests that this may, in fact, be valid Java source code. On page 449 (§15.12 Method Invocation Expressions) we see this:

It is possible that no method is the most specific, because there are two or
more methods that are maximally specific. In this case:

• If all the maximally specific methods have override-equivalent (§8.4.2) signatures,
  then:
  • If exactly one of the maximally specific methods is not declared abstract,
    it is the most specific method.
  • Otherwise, if all the maximally specific methods are declared abstract,
    and the signatures of all of the maximally specific methods have the same
    erasure (§4.6), then the most specific method is chosen arbitrarily among
    the subset of the maximally specific methods that have the most specific
    return type. However, the most specific method is considered to throw a
    checked exception if and only if that exception or its erasure is declared in
    the throws clauses of each of the maximally specific methods.
• Otherwise, we say that the method invocation is ambiguous, and a compiletime
  error occurs.

Unless I am mistaken, this behavior should only apply to methods declared as abstract, though…

Update #3

Thanks to ILMTitan’s comment:

@Adam Paynter: Your bolded text does
not matter, because it is only a case
when two methods are
override-equivalent, which Dan showed
was not the case. Thus, the
determining factor must be if the JLS
takes generic types into account when
determining most specific method. –
ILMTitan