Doubt in overloaded method related question

Foe the following 2 code samples, i have confusion with code sample-2

Read the code below. Will be the result of attempting to compile and run the code below.

******************code sample-1************************
public class AQuestion
{
public void method(Object o)
{
System.out.println("Object Verion");
}
public void method(String s)
{
System.out.println("String Version");
}
public static void main(String args[])
{
AQuestion question = new AQuestion();
question.method(null);
}
}
Answers
1.The code does not compile.
2.The code compiles cleanly and shows "Object Version".
3.The code compiles cleanly and shows "String Version"
4.The code throws an Exception at Runtime.
Ans: C

*****************code sample-2 *************************

public class AQuestion
{
public void method(StringBuffer sb)
{
System.out.println("StringBuffer Verion");
}
public void method(String s)
{
System.out.println("String Version");
}
public static void main(String args[])
{
AQuestion question = new AQuestion();
question.method(null);
}
}
Answers
1.The code does not compile.
2.The code compiles cleanly and shows "StringBuffer Version".
3.The code compiles cleanly and shows "String Version"
4.The code throws an Exception at Runtime.
Ans: A

Doubt: WHY the null is not accepted by String version of the overloaded method in code sample-2?

pls help
regards,
gitesh

Originally posted by Gitesh Ramchandani:
Doubt: WHY the null is not accepted by String version of the overloaded method in code sample-2?

When you compile a program, compilation errors are listed with error messages? What is the message that you got when you compiled it? And what about it do you not understand?

And .... Please Quote Your Sources.

Thanks,
Henry

Originally posted by Henry Wong:

When you compile a program, compilation errors are listed with error messages? What is the message that you got when you compiled it? And what about it do you not understand?

And .... Please Quote Your Sources.

Thanks,
Henry

I'm also trying to understand ..wyh we get the compile time error :

C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.5.0_11\bin>javac AQuestion.java
AQuestion.java:15: reference to method is ambiguous, both method method(java.lang.StringBuffer) in AQuestion and method
method(java.lang.String) in AQuestion match
question.method(null);
^
1 error

thanks by advance

It's been strange to me, why it is not calling String version of the method in the code sample -2

Thanks,
pradeep

The first sample program object argument is overloaded by String object. So when you pass null as a parameter it calls String object method.

In sample2 It has Stringbuffer parameter and String object parameter. The null parameter has matched with two methods. So it confused. That's a reason it gives "method is ambiguous" error.

I did not understand....

Originally posted by Alexsandra Carvalho:
I did not understand....

Basically, the compiler can't tell what type a null is. It can assigned to either a String or a StringBuffer reference. The specification states that when in doubt, the compiler will choose the most specific method. In this case, String and StringBuffer both inherits from object, so it can't choose.

Henry

Hum..so good.
Thanks!

In first case there is relationship beaween Object and String class.
String is the subclass of Object.so compiler gives priority to String class.So first it will check whther the String accepts null or not. if it accepts no problem otherwise Object class handles this.

Where as in second case there is no relationship between String and StringBuffer. Both have same priority and both accepts null , so the compiler can not understand which one it has to call , so it raise an compile time error

thanks for help.

Source:

Angelfire/Abhilash Quiz Q3&4