Object Vs String

[Prasath Thirumoorthy]

class Example {
public void myMethod(Object o) {
System.out.println("Object");
}
public void myMethod(String o) {
System.out.println("String");
}
}

Class Test {
public static void main (String arg[]) {
Example eg = new Example();
eg.myMethod(null);
}
}

Hi Friends,
Consider the above program.The output of that program is String why not Object.If I add one more myMethod(StringBuffer sb) and StringBuffer as the parameter.Its giving compilation Error.ie Ambiguos Error.

Kindly help me in this.And Give me a Reason behind those Stuff.

Thanks & Regards,
Prasath Thirumoorthy

[Ernest Friedman-Hill]

This is a very frequently asked question!

When the compiler is choosing between different overloaded versions of a method, it first tries to select the "most specific" overload that matches. In this case "null" matches both String and Object, but String is more specific because it's a subclass of Object.

If you add a StringBuffer version, though, then null matches all three versions, and there is no single "most specific" version, because String and StringBuffer are both direct subclasses of Object. Therefore, the compiler can't choose, and it's an error.

[Prasath Thirumoorthy]

Thanks a lot...