Java Method Overloading

• Method Overloading in Java allows defining multiple methods with the same name but different parameters within a class.
• The difference can be in the number of parameters, the types of parameters, or the order of those parameters.
• Method overloading in Java is also known as Compile-time Polymorphism, Static Polymorphism, or Early binding, because the decision about which method to call is made at compile time.
• When there are overloaded methods that accept both a parent type and a child type, and the provided argument could match either one, Java prefers the method that takes the more specific (child) type because it offers a more better match.

Key features of Method Overloading:

• Multiple methods can share the same name in a class when their parameter lists are different.
• Overloading is a way to increase flexibility and improve the readability of code.
• Overloading does not depend on the return type of the method, two methods cannot be overloaded by just changing the return type.

Different Ways of Method Overloading in Java:

• Changing the Number of Parameters.
• Changing Data Types of the Arguments.
• Changing the Order of the Parameters of Methods.

Advantages of Method Overloading:

• Method overloading improves the Readability and reusability of the program.
• Method overloading reduces the complexity of the program.
• Using method overloading, programmers can perform a task efficiently and effectively.
• Using method overloading, it is possible to access methods performing related functions with slightly different arguments and types.
• Objects of a class can also be initialized in different ways using the constructors.

Disadvantages of Method Overloading:

• Too many overloaded methods can make the code harder to read and maintain.
• Similar method names with different parameters can confuse developers and lead to incorrect usage.
• Improper use may lead to ambiguity in method selection, especially with type conversions.

Special Cases Of Method Overloading:

• Method Overloading by changing the return type of method only is not possible because of ambiguity.
• We can have any number of main methods in a class by method overloading because JVM always calls main() method which receives string array as arguments only.

Method Overloading - Case 1 Automatic Promotion:

• One type is promoted to another implicitly if no matching data type is found.
• byte -> short -> int -> long -> double
• char -> int -> float -> double
• int -> float

Method Overloading - Case 2:

• While resolving Overloaded Methods, Compiler will always give precedence for the child type argument than compared with parent type argument.
• Object is the parent class of all classes in java

Method Overloading - Case 3:

• String & StringBuffer are at the same level so the "null" cannot be referred and if referred, an ambiguous error will occur.

Method Overloading - Case 4:

• Example code demonstrates method overloading with different combinations of int and float parameters.