Overriding vs Overloading

[John Hembree]

Is it safe to say that the method called when overloading is always determined by the type of reference and when overriding it is always determined by the type of the object?
A a = new D();
In this case
Type of Object is D
Type of Reference is A
Is the above statement always true?

[Corey McGlone]

Originally posted by John Hembree:
Is it safe to say that the method called when overloading is always determined by the type of reference and when overriding it is always determined by the type of the object?

I'm not really sure what you're trying to get at, John. Overriding and overloading are two very different things.
For one thing, you can overload methods without introducing any sort of inheritence into the picture. Overloading a method is simply defining multiple methods with the same name that have different signatures.
Overriding methods, on the other hand, allows a child to behave differently than a parent when a given method is invoked. In this case, the signature must be identical in order for the overriding to function.
I don't know if that answers your question, John, but if you still have questions, let me know.
Corey

[Sarma Lolla]

John,

Is it safe to say that the method called when overloading is always determined by the type of reference and when overriding it is always determined by the type of the object?
A a = new D();
In this case
Type of Object is D
Type of Reference is A
Is the above statement always true?

No it not true. While OverLoading doesn't look at the actual object/referrence. It looks at the method that
has same number and type of parameters no matter the method is in subclass or super class.
class A{
void m1();
}
class B extends A{
void m1(int x){}
}
In the above mentioned example the following code
A a= new B();
a.m1() always calls A.m1().
While a static overridden method is called the reference is considered to resolve the method and a non-static overridden method call is resolved using the actual object.
[ March 12, 2003: Message edited by: Sarma Lolla ]

[Corey McGlone]

Originally posted by Sarma Lolla:
While a static overridden method is called the reference is considered to resolve the method and a non-static overridden method call is resolved using the actual object.

A bit of a nitpick, but you can't override a static method - that doesn't make any sense. Instead, if you declare an identical static method in a child as in a parent, the method is said to "hide" the parent class' static method. Be sure to check out the JLS §8.4.6 Inheritance, Overriding, and Hiding for all sorts of good info on this topic.
Corey
[ March 12, 2003: Message edited by: Corey McGlone ]