Static Method and Inheritence.

[Sujatha Kumar]

Hi All,

I have read in few articles that the static methods cannot be inherited.

To prove to myself about what i have read,
I created a Parent Class with a static method say MethodA()
then i Created a Child Class inheriting the Parent Class

But It was a surprise for me when I saw that,
I was able to inherit the static method defined in the Parent Class??

Can anyone of you, share your thoughts on this topic....

Regards
[ November 10, 2004: Message edited by: Sujatha Kumar ]

[Jeanne Boyarsky]

Sujatha,
You can create another static method in the child class with the same name. However, it is not inherited.

ParentClass.method() will execute the code in the parent class.
ChildClass.method() will execute the code in the child class.

You can test this out by trying to put the following code in the child class' copy of the static method:
super.method();

It should give you a compiler error. If you try this in a non-static method, it will compile and call the parent class' method.

[Nikhil Vasaikar]

class Parent{
 
protected static void printMe(){
System.out.println("Parent");
}
 
}
 
class Child extends Parent {
 
public void foo(){
 
}
}
 
public class Test{
public static void main(String args[]){
Child.printMe();
}
}
 

Output: Parent

It still prints Parent. I guess this means that the protected static void printMe() is inherited. It can also be overridden in the child class.

Nikhil

[Sathya Srinivasan]

When in doubt, check the JLS. Here are some excerpts that may be of interest.

Section 8.4.6.2
If a class declares a static method, then the declaration of that method is said to hide any and all methods with the same signature in the superclasses and superinterfaces of the class that would otherwise be accessible to code in the class. A compile-time error occurs if a static method hides an instance method.

Section 8.4.6.4
It is possible for a class to inherit more than one method with the same signature. Such a situation does not in itself cause a compile-time error. There are then two possible cases:

* If one of the inherited methods is not abstract, then there are two subcases:
o If the method that is not abstract is static, a compile-time error occurs.
o Otherwise, the method that is not abstract is considered to override, and therefore to implement, all the other methods on behalf of the class that inherits it. A compile-time error occurs if, comparing the method that is not abstract with each of the other of the inherited methods, for any such pair, either they have different return types or one has a return type and the other is void. Moreover, a compile-time error occurs if the inherited method that is not abstract has a throws clause that conflicts (�8.4.4) with that of any other of the inherited methods.
* If all the inherited methods are abstract, then the class is necessarily an abstract class and is considered to inherit all the abstract methods. A compile-time error occurs if, for any two such inherited methods, either they have different return types or one has a return type and the other is void. (The throws clauses do not cause errors in this case.)

Hope this helps.

[Udayan Patel]

Originally posted by Sujatha Kumar:
Hi All,

I have read in few articles that the static methods cannot be inherited.

To prove to myself about what i have read,
I created a Parent Class with a static method say MethodA()
then i Created a Child Class inheriting the Parent Class

But It was a surprise for me when I saw that,
I was able to inherit the static method defined in the Parent Class??

Can anyone of you, share your thoughts on this topic....

Regards

[ November 10, 2004: Message edited by: Sujatha Kumar ]

Seems like you are talking about static {} blocks and not static methods. there is a difference between these two. static block is a class level block that always executed upon loading perticular class but it is not available to its children. I usually call it ghost code and try to refrain from it unless my class is final. Where as a static method is a method and no matter what as long as its public its available to children.

[Vladas Razas]

No he was talking about static methods And yeah they are not polymorphic. This is because when we invoke such method on object, the actual method invoked depends on object real class. Static method is not associated with an object. I think I have repeated that everybody was saying here

[Warren Dew]

Sujatha Kumar:

I have read in few articles that the static methods cannot be inherited.

Perhaps it would be clearer to say that static methods cannot be overridden.

[Ilja Preuss]

Originally posted by Nikhil Vasaikar:
It can also be overridden in the child class.

No, it cannot be overridden. Overriding implies polymorphism, and static methods aren't polymorph. Which exact method is called is decided at compile time, based on the reference type, not at runtime based on the object type.

Redefining a static method in a subclass is called "shadowing", if I remember correctly.

[Vladas Razas]

I think they could/should disallow this kind of shadowing in compiler. We can always chose another method name for inherited class.

[Michael Ernest]

This conversation strikes me as an issue in the language and not one of general OO design. I will therefore move it to Intermediate Java.

[Ilja Preuss]

Originally posted by Vladas Razas:
I think they could/should disallow this kind of shadowing in compiler. We can always chose another method name for inherited class.

Checking this in the compiler doesn't suffice, as two classes used together at runtime don't need to have been compiled together.

If shadowing were disallowed, that would mean I could break a class simply by adding a static method to its superclass. Bad idea, in my opinion.

[Sujatha Kumar]

So What's the conclusion?

Static methods are not inherited rather they are shadowed is it ???

[somkiat puisungnoen]

A hidden class (static) method can be invoked by using a reference whose type is the class that actually contains the declaration of the method. In this respect, hiding of static methods is different from overriding of instance methods. The example:

class Super {
static String greeting() { return "Goodnight"; }
String name() { return "Richard"; }
}
class Sub extends Super {
static String greeting() { return "Hello"; }
String name() { return "Dick"; }
}
class Test {
public static void main(String[] args) {
Super s = new Sub();
System.out.println(s.greeting() + ", " + s.name());
}
}

Output

Goodnight, Dick

Question
Why output look like that ?


Answer
because s.greeting() :: s is a Super. (Compile Time Biding) and
s.name() :: s is Sub. (Runtime binding)

[ November 15, 2004: Message edited by: somkiat puisungnoen ]
[ November 15, 2004: Message edited by: somkiat puisungnoen ]

[Nikhil Vasaikar]

Originally posted by Ilja Preuss
No, it cannot be overridden

I agree to it. I was wrong

Nikhil