What Is Java Overloading?

Overloading in Java is the ability to define more than one method with the same name in a class. The compiler is able to distinguish between the methods because of their method signatures.

This term also goes by method overloading, and is mainly used to just increase the readability of the program; to make it look better. However, do it too much and the reverse effect may come into play because the code looks too similar, and can be hard to read.

Examples of Java Overloading

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Let's Examine Overloading in C/C++/C#

By David Bolton

There are nine different ways the print method of the System.out object can be used:

When you use the print method in your code, the compiler will determine which method you want to call by looking at the method signature. For example:

A different print method is being called each time because the parameter type being passed is different. It's useful because the print method will need to vary how it works depending on whether it has to deal with a string, integer, or boolean.

More Information on Overloading

Something to remember about overloading is that you can't have more than one method with the same name, number, and type of argument because that declaration doesn't let the compiler understand how they're different.

Also, you can't declare two methods as having identical signatures, even if they have unique return types. This is because the compiler doesn't consider return types when differentiating between methods.

Overloading in Java creates consistency in the code, which helps eliminate inconsistencies, which could lead to syntax errors. Overloading is also just a convenient way to make the code easier to read through.