Why doesn’t the compiler complain when I try to override a static method?

by

You didn’t override anything here. To see for yourself, Try putting @Override annotation before public static void a() in class B and Java will throw an error.

You just defined a function in class B called a(), which is distinct (no relation whatsoever) from the function a() in class A.

But Because B.a() has the same name as a function in the parent class, it hides A.a() [As pointed by Eng. Fouad]. At runtime, the compiler uses the actual class of the declared reference to determine which method to run. For example,

B b = new B();
b.a() //prints B.a()

A a = (A)b;
a.a() //print A.a(). Uses the declared reference's class to find the method.

You cannot override static methods in Java. Remember static methods and fields are associated with the class, not with the objects. (Although, in some languages like Smalltalk, this is possible).

I found some good answers here: Why doesn’t Java allow overriding of static methods?

More Related Contents:

  1. Why doesn’t Java allow overriding of static methods?
  2. Polymorphism vs Overriding vs Overloading
  3. Difference between Static methods and Instance methods
  4. Why can’t I define a static method in a Java interface?
  5. Why can’t static methods be abstract in Java?
  6. Static method in a generic class?
  7. ‘Must Override a Superclass Method’ Errors after importing a project into Eclipse
  8. What is the difference between method overloading and overriding? [duplicate]
  9. Is there a way to override class variables in Java?
  10. What is the difference between dynamic and static polymorphism in Java?
  11. How to call a superclass method using Java reflection
  12. Should private helper methods be static if they can be static
  13. How to call getClass() from a static method in Java?
  14. Why do we have to override the equals() method in Java?
  15. Calling super super class method
  16. When NOT to use the static keyword in Java?
  17. How do Java method annotations work in conjunction with method overriding?
  18. Java: Overriding function to disable SSL certificate check
  19. Class is not Abstract and does not Override error in Java
  20. Understanding the purpose of Abstract Classes in Java
  21. Slight confusion regarding overriding where variables are concerned
  22. Java overloading and overriding
  23. Override valueof() and toString() in Java enum
  24. Type erasure, overriding and generics
  25. Android @Override usage [duplicate]
  26. Java generic method inheritance and override rules
  27. Static method behavior in multi-threaded environment in java
  28. Why is there no parameter contra-variance for overriding?
  29. Calling static method on a class?
  30. Java: How to find if a method is overridden from base class? [duplicate]

Leave a Comment