Is Return Type Included in Method Signature ?

[vijay saraf]

Hello All,

Can any one tell me return type included in method signature or not.
if yes then
Suppose a case when
Two Classes are there A & B.
B extends A.
Now

class classBase{
public A method (){
.........
...........
return new A();
}
}
class classChild extends classBase{
public B method(){
.........
...........
return new B();

}
}
The Question is
In this case Overriding is happening or not.
[ June 30, 2006: Message edited by: vijay saraf ]

[Christophe Verré]

No, this is not valid. Return type has to be the same.

[vijay saraf]

it means return type should exactly be the same as in base class's method.
but i have read somewhere that signature means
method name and parameter list.....excluding return type.is it ok??

[wise owen]

A method's signature is its name and the number and the type of its arguments. The method return type, method modifiers, and declared thrown exceptions have no effect on the method signature.

[S Thiyanesh]

but i have read somewhere that signature means
method name and parameter list.....excluding return type.is it ok??

This is called as Covariant return types included from Java 5.

class A{
    public A m(){
        return new A();
    }
}
class B extends A{
    public B m(){
        return new B();
    }
}

This is a perfect override for SCJP 1.5 but a compiler error for SCJP 1.4.

[vijay saraf]

thanks all of you.