Interface and inheritance

[Karen Boxby]

The code below is a question from Dan Chisholm's website of comprehensive tests. The code originally demonstrated a compilation error, but I modified it so it would compile. I wanted to verify that it returned a "A", but it returned a "B" instead. I don't understand why that is -- could someone explain it to me?

interface A {String s1 = "A"; String m1(); }
interface B extends A {String s1 = "B"; String m1(); }

public class C implements B {
    public String m1() {return s1;}
    public static void main(String [] args) {
        A a = new C();
        System.out.println(a.m1());
    }
}

[Sresh Rangi]

Because they have the same name, the s1 variable in A is "hidden" by the s1 variable in B. The variable in A still exists, and can be accessed by:

public String m1() { return A.s1; }