Overriding static methods

[Divya Dronamraju]

class sup
{
static void method(){System.out.println("Super");} // 1
}

class test extends sup
{
public static void main(String args[]) {}
static void method(){System.out.println("test");}
}

Is this an example of overriding? I thought static methods cannot be overridden...they can only be hidden... This concept is not clear to me. Can someone help me understand this?

Thanks!

[vijaya saradhi]

Hi Divya.

First of all static methods belong to class.And they are not per each and evry object, ie not per instance of a class.So overriding can be done only on
non static member functions (instance methods only).

Since static members are part of a class nt seperate for each and evry individual objects of a class, this overriding concept doesn't apply to them.

even though static methods are inherited, they cannt be invoked dynamically using parent class reference(ie no dynamic binding since static)

for eg:

 
   class A{
     void f(){  
      System.out.println("in base f()...");
     }
 
   static void f1(){  
      System.out.println("in base f1()...");
   }
  
   }
 
   class B extends A{
 
     void f(){  
      System.out.println("in subclass f()...");
     }
   static void f1(){  
      System.out.println("in base f1()...");
   }
  
   }
   
   class client{
    public static void main(String args[]){
     A r = new A();
     r.f();// calls base f()
     r = new B();
     r.f(); //calls subclass's f().
 
     A r1 = new A();
     r1.f1();// calls base f1()
     r1 = new B();
     r1.f1(); //calls base's f1()
    }
  
 
  
   }

note even though the object is of type B the static function of the
type A (base) is called



So they are hidden in subclass.

[marc weber]

Also see Overriding vs. Hiding.