Can I override a static method?
looks like it's overriding a static method (like the first Foo and Bar at the top of this page) - it won't behave like an overridden method.
So what about accessing a static method using an instance?
It's possible in Java to write something like:
f.classMethod();
where f is an instance of some class, and classMethod() is a class method (i.e. a static method) of that class. This is legal, but it's a bad idea because it creates confusion. The actual instance f is not really important here. Only the declared type of f matters. That is, what class is f declared to be? Since classMethod() is static, the class of f (as determined by the compiler at compile time) is all we need.
Rather than writing:
f.classMethod();It would be better coding style to write either:
Foo.classMethod();or
Bar.classMethod();That way, it is crystal clear which class method you would like to call. It is also clear that the method you are calling is indeed a class method. o;'oi;'i Barring that, you could always come up with this monstrosity:
f.getClass().getMethod("classMethod", new Class[]).invoke(null, new Object[]);But all this could be avoided by simply not trying to override your static (class) methods. :-)
Why does the compiler sometimes talk about overriding static methods?
Sometimes you will see error messages from the compiler that talk about overriding static methods. Apparently, whoever writes these particular messages has not read the Java Language Specification and does not know the difference between overriding and hiding. So they use incorrect and misleading terminology. Just ignore it. The Java Language Specification is very clear about the difference between overriding and hiding, even if the compiler messages are not. Just pretend that the compiler said "hide" rather than "override"..