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Method overriding in java with example Search this website

BY CHAITANYA SINGH | FILED UNDER: OOPS CONCEPT

Declaring a method in sub class which is already present in parent class is known as method
overriding. Overriding is done so that a child class can give its own implementation to a method
which is already provided by the parent class. In this case the method in parent class is called
overridden method and the method in child class is called overriding method. In this guide, we will
see what is method overriding in Java and why we use it.

Method Overriding Example

Lets take a simple example to understand this. We have two classes: A child class Boy and a parent
class Human. The Boy class extends Human class. Both the classes have a common method void
eat(). Boy class is giving its own implementation to the eat() method or in other words it is
overriding the eat() method.

The purpose of Method Overriding is clear here. Child class wants to give its own implementation so
that when it calls this method, it prints Boy is eating instead of Human is eating.

class Human{
//Overridden method
 public void eat()
{
System.out.println("Human is eating");
}
}
class Boy extends Human{
//Overriding method
public void eat(){
System.out.println("Boy is eating");
}
public static void main( String args[]) {
Boy obj = new Boy();
//This will call the child class version of eat()
obj.eat();
}
}

Output:

Boy is eating

Advantage of method overriding

The main advantage of method overriding is that the class can give its own speci c implementation
to a inherited method without even modifying the parent class code.

This is helpful when a class has several child classes, so if a child class needs to use the parent class
method, it can use it and the other classes that want to have different implementation can use
overriding feature to make changes without touching the parent class code.

Method Overriding and Dynamic Method Dispatch

Method Overriding is an example of runtime polymorphism. When a parent class reference points to
the child class object then the call to the overridden method is determined at runtime, because
during method call which method(parent class or child class) is to be executed is determined by the
type of object. This process in which call to the overridden method is resolved at runtime is known
as dynamic method dispatch. Lets see an example to understand this:

class ABC{
//Overridden method
public void disp()
{
System.out.println("disp() method of parent class");
}
}
class Demo extends ABC{
//Overriding method
public void disp(){
System.out.println("disp() method of Child class");
}
public void newMethod(){
System.out.println("new method of child class");
}
public static void main( String args[]) {
/* When Parent class reference refers to the parent class object
* then in this case overridden method (the method of parent class)
* is called.
*/
ABC obj = new ABC();
obj.disp();

/* When parent class reference refers to the child class object

* then the overriding method (method of child class) is called.
* This is called dynamic method dispatch and runtime polymorphism
*/
ABC obj2 = new Demo();
obj2.disp();
}
}

Output:
disp() method of parent class
disp() method of Child class

In the above example the call to the disp() method using second object (obj2) is runtime
polymorphism (or dynamic method dispatch).
Note: In dynamic method dispatch the object can call the overriding methods of child class and all
the non-overridden methods of base class but it cannot call the methods which are newly declared
in the child class. In the above example the object obj2 is calling the disp(). However if you try to
call the newMethod() method (which has been newly declared in Demo class) using obj2 then you
would give compilation error with the following message:

Exception in thread "main" java.lang.Error: Unresolved compilation

problem: The method xyz() is undefined for the type ABC

Rules of method overriding in Java

1. Argument list: The argument list of overriding method (method of child class) must match the
Overridden method(the method of parent class). The data types of the arguments and their
sequence should exactly match.
2. Access Modi er of the overriding method (method of subclass) cannot be more restrictive than
the overridden method of parent class. For e.g. if the Access Modi er of parent class method is
public then the overriding method (child class method ) cannot have private, protected and
default Access modi er,because all of these three access modi ers are more restrictive than
public.
For e.g. This is not allowed as child class disp method is more restrictive(protected) than base
class(public)

class MyBaseClass{
public void disp()
{
System.out.println("Parent class method");
}
}
class MyChildClass extends MyBaseClass{
protected void disp(){
System.out.println("Child class method");
}
public static void main( String args[]) {
MyChildClass obj = new MyChildClass();
obj.disp();
}
}

Output:

Exception in thread "main" java.lang.Error: Unresolved compilation

problem: Cannot reduce the visibility of the inherited method from MyBaseClass

However this is perfectly valid scenario as public is less restrictive than protected. Same access
modi er is also a valid one.

class MyBaseClass{
protected void disp()
{
System.out.println("Parent class method");
}
}
class MyChildClass extends MyBaseClass{
public void disp(){
System.out.println("Child class method");
}
public static void main( String args[]) {
MyChildClass obj = new MyChildClass();
obj.disp();
}
}

Output:

Child class method

 3. private, static and nal methods cannot be overridden as they are local to the class. However
static methods can be re-declared in the sub class, in this case the sub-class method would act
differently and will have nothing to do with the same static method of parent class.
4. Overriding method (method of child class) can throw unchecked exceptions, regardless of
whether the overridden method(method of parent class) throws any exception or not. However
the overriding method should not throw checked exceptions that are new or broader than the
ones declared by the overridden method. We will discuss this in detail with example in the
upcoming tutorial.
5. Binding of overridden methods happen at runtime which is known as dynamic binding.
6. If a class is extending an abstract class or implementing an interface then it has to override all
the abstract methods unless the class itself is a abstract class.

Super keyword in Method Overriding

The super keyword is used for calling the parent class method/constructor. super.myMethod() calls
the myMethod() method of base class while super() calls the constructor of base class. Let’s see the
use of super in method Overriding.
As we know that we we override a method in child class, then call to the method using child class
object calls the overridden method. By using super we can call the overridden method as shown in
the example below:

class ABC{
public void myMethod()
{
System.out.println("Overridden method");
}
}
class Demo extends ABC{
public void myMethod(){
//This will call the myMethod() of parent class
super.myMethod();
System.out.println("Overriding method");
}
 public static void main( String args[]) {
Demo obj = new Demo();
obj.myMethod();
}
}

Output:

Class ABC: mymethod()

Class Test: mymethod()

As you see using super keyword, we can access the overriden method.

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Comments

Furqan Hussain says

SEPTEMBER 10, 2014 AT 5:52 AM

Hi Dear,

Although i have visited may sites to learn java programming but the concept and
explanation giving by example on your side never seen anywhere else.
I need you cooperation to learn java.

Pls Help.
Thanks.

Reply

tahir says
SEPTEMBER 16, 2014 AT 10:50 AM

can we call the non overridden methods of base class in dynamic method dispatch with
the base class reference to which the child class object is assign?

Reply

Chaitanya Singh says

SEPTEMBER 20, 2014 AT 7:45 AM

Yes we can.

Reply

Owais says
DECEMBER 12, 2014 AT 3:57 PM

nice work , i appriciate it.

 Reply

Amit Gupta says

NOVEMBER 12, 2014 AT 11:27 AM

https://beginnersbook.com/2014/01/method-overriding-in-java-with-example/

Rules of method overriding in Java

Point 2 need to be corrected from Return Type to Access Modi er

Reply

Sachindra says
NOVEMBER 28, 2014 AT 9:46 AM

I called Newly created Method xyz() of child class,but its running perfectly..i does not
give any error as you said it will throw
Exception in thread “main” java.lang.Error: Unresolved compilation
problem: The method xyz() is unde ned for the type ABC

Reply

Dave says
 JULY 31, 2015 AT 12:33 PM

Then you did something wrong, because it shouldn’t work. At compile time the
object is static bound to the base class and it will not nd a method xyz() in the
base class.

Reply

janardhan reddy says

APRIL 4, 2015 AT 6:05 AM

I’ve visited so many sites but this site for learning java is exceptionally well
i hope everybody can understand and learn java easily.surly i need a help from your side
is in depth about static keyword and object .how object stores memory and how method
behaves on object

Reply

sandhana lakshmi says

SEPTEMBER 6, 2015 AT 6:07 AM

why we cannot override constructors?

Reply
 Prakash says
DECEMBER 8, 2015 AT 6:27 PM

1) NO! A constructor belongs to the class in which it is declared. A sub class is a

different class and must have its own constructor. So, constructors simply can’t be
overridden.

2) Yes, that’s done usually in case of singletons.

Reply

laxman says
MARCH 17, 2016 AT 11:20 AM

We can’t override s constructor because if we try to override the constructor in

another class then it will be considered as a method in that class.

Reply

Roman says
NOVEMBER 29, 2015 AT 11:28 AM

Can you explain this please?

ABC obj = new Test();
When I need construction like this if I can do:
Test obj = new Test();
To call all methods I want.Thank you!

Reply

naveen says
JUNE 12, 2016 AT 3:59 AM

this is an upcasting

Reply

Gayathri says
JANUARY 5, 2016 AT 3:16 PM

Nice work..clearly explained the nook and corner of the chapter..

Reply

Learner says
APRIL 20, 2016 AT 5:37 AM

Can we change the return type while overriding a method ?

Reply

Ketan says
AUGUST 6, 2016 AT 4:52 AM

Yes we can change but, return type can be either same or sub type of the super
class method return type that is called as a covariance (introduced from java 1.5)

Reply

maryam says
MAY 10, 2016 AT 6:05 AM

I called a new method of ChidClass (xyz())

but It Worked Perfectly and this Exception you said not happened
Exception in thread “main” java.lang.Error: Unresolved compilation
problem: The method xyz() is unde ned for the type ABC

Reply

natwar says
NOVEMBER 25, 2016 AT 5:57 AM
 Examples illustrated are very simple and easy to understand and covers all the basic
requirements.Please keep updating your posts.

Reply

Raju says
JANUARY 13, 2017 AT 4:45 AM

Hey, lovee your work, but I would like to make a suggestion, please add a ‘next chapter’
or next botton at the end so we can continue to the next article of this post or any post,
it would be helpful

Reply

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