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Methods Overiding, Overloading >
Siva Nookala - 14 Mar 2016
Here we will discuss about Method Overriding in detail and what are the different ways a method can be overridden.

Method Overriding Multiple Levels
class MultiLevelMethodOverriding
{
    public static void main(String arg[])
    {
        System.out.println("----------------------------");
        A a = new A();
        a.print();
        System.out.println("----------------------------");
        B b = new B();
        b.print();
        System.out.println("----------------------------");
        C c = new C();
        c.print();
        System.out.println("----------------------------");
        D d = new D();
        d.print();
        System.out.println("----------------------------");
        E e = new E();
        e.print();
        System.out.println("----------------------------");    
    }
}

class A
{
    void print()
    {
        System.out.println("In class A");
    }
}

class B extends A
{
    void print()
    {
        super.print();
        System.out.println("In class B");
    }
}

class C extends B
{
    void print()
    {
        super.print();
        System.out.println("In class C");
    }
}

class D extends A
{
    void print()
    {
        System.out.println("In class D, printing before super class A");
        super.print();
    }
}

class E extends A
{
    void print()
    {
        System.out.println("In class E, not calling the super class method at all.");
    }
}
OUTPUT

----------------------------
In class A
----------------------------
In class A
In class B
----------------------------
In class A
In class B
In class C
----------------------------
In class D, printing before super class A
In class A
----------------------------
In class E, not calling the super class method at all.
----------------------------

DESCRIPTION

Here we have created five classes A, B, C, D and E. B extends from A, C extends from B, D extends from A, E extends from A. We have implemented the print method in all the classes. In class B and class C, we are calling the super class method before printing, where as in class D, we are printing before calling the super class method. In class E, we are not calling the super-class method at all.

THINGS TO TRY
  • Create one more class F which extends from class C and implement in the print method. Call the super-class print method using super.print() before printing "In class F" in that method.
  • Create one more class G which extends from class A and implement in the print method. Call the super-class print method using super.print() both before and after printing the statement "In class G". Observe that there is no limitation on the number of times we can call the super-class method in the sub-class method.
The following observations can be made from the above program.
  • There is no limit on the number of levels of class hierarchy for method overriding. The print method in class A, is overridden in class B, which in turn is overridden in class C.
  • We can call the super-class method, either before or after the current method code. In class B we are calling before, where as in class D we are calling afterwards.
  • It is not necessary to call the super-class method. As shown in class E, we can skip it altogether.
  • Like any other method, we can call the super-class method as many times as needed and in any position required. This can be observed when we create the class G as suggested in the 'Things To Try' section.
The Dynamic Method Dispatch - Calling Overridden Methods In Java is another powerful concept of the Java, which effectively uses method overriding.

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