Method overloading means when two or more methods have the same name but a different signature. Signature of a method is nothing but a combination of its name and the sequence of its parameter types.
Advantages of method overloading
- It allows you to use the same name for a group of methods that basically have the same purpose.
- It provides an easy way to handle default parameter value.
Assume that a method has one required parameter and two optional parameters. Three overloaded forms of this method can be defined. It can accept one, two or three parameters.
Best example of overloading method is println() method. This method has many overloaded forms where each of these accepts one argument of a different type. The type may be a boolean, char, int, long, flaot, double, String, char[] or Object.
Example 1: Program that illustrates method overloading
class Myclass
{
int addition()
{
return(10);
}
int addition(int i, int j)
{
return i + j ;
}
String addition(String s1, String s2)
{
return s1 + s2;
}
double addition(double d1, double d2)
{
return d1 + d2;
}
}
class AddOperation
{
public static void main(String args[])
{
Myclass Obj = new Myclass ();
System.out.println(Obj.addition();
System.out.println(Obj.addition(1,2));
System.out.println(Obj.addition("Hello ","World"));
System.out.println(Obj.addition(1.5,2));
}
}
Output
10
3
Hello World
3.5