Worksheet 11 - Function Overloading
Worksheet 11 - Function Overloading
SESSION- 2021-22
STUDY MATERIAL
SUBJECT- COMPUTER
APPLICATIONS
CLASS- IX
NOTES ON FUNCTION OVERLOADING :--
If a class has multiple methods having same name but different in parameters, it is known as Method
Overloading.
If we have to perform only one operation, having same name of the methods increases the readability of
the program.
Suppose you have to perform addition of the given numbers but there can be any number of arguments, if
you write the method such as a(int,int) for two parameters, and b(int,int,int) for three parameters then it
may be difficult for you as well as other programmers to understand the behavior of the method because
its name differs.
In Java, Method Overloading is not possible by changing the return type of the method only.
In this example, we are creating static methods so that we don't need to create instance for calling
methods.
class Adder{
static int add(int a,int b){return a+b;}
static int add(int a,int b,int c){return a+b+c;}
}
class TestOverloading1{
public static void main(String[] args){
System.out.println(Adder.add(11,11));
System.out.println(Adder.add(11,11,11));
}}
Test it Now
Output:
22
33
2) Method Overloading: changing data type of arguments
In this example, we have created two methods that differs in data type. The first add method receives two
integer arguments and second add method receives two double arguments.
class Adder{
static int add(int a, int b){return a+b;}
static double add(double a, double b){return a+b;}
}
class TestOverloading2{
public static void main(String[] args){
System.out.println(Adder.add(11,11));
System.out.println(Adder.add(12.3,12.6));
}}
Test it Now
Output:
22
24.9
class Adder{
static int add(int a,int b){return a+b;}
static double add(int a,int b){return a+b;}
}
class TestOverloading3{
public static void main(String[] args){
System.out.println(Adder.add(11,11));//ambiguity
}}
Test it Now
Output:
System.out.println(Adder.add(11,11)); //Here, how can java determine which sum() method should be
called?
Note: Compile Time Error is better than Run Time Error. So, java compiler renders compiler time error if you
declare the same method having same parameters.
Can we overload java main() method?
Yes, by method overloading. You can have any number of main methods in a class by method
overloading. But JVM calls main() method which receives string array as arguments only. Let's see the
simple example:
class TestOverloading4{
public static void main(String[] args){System.out.println("main with String[]");}
public static void main(String args){System.out.println("main with String");}
public static void main(){System.out.println("main without args");}
}
Test it Now
Output: