Shadowing static methods

[J Hreich]

Just a thought for those who don't know it.
Private final methods can still be shadowed in
a sub-class. Are private static methods implicitly final?
Example:
The following piece of code compiles with no problems:

class A {
private final static void test() {
}
}
class B extends A {
private static void test() {
}
}

Any thoughts would be useful

[Brian E Smith]

It seems to me that private methods are essentially hidden from any would-be inheritors, as if they never existed in the first place.
B.test couln't call super.test(), for example.
Regards,
Brian Smith,
SCJP in training (as well)

[Corey McGlone]

Originally posted by Jay Hreich:
Are private static methods implicitly final?

Regardless of the fact that the method is static, this is what I found in the JLS, §8.4.3.3 final Methods:

A private method and all methods declared in a final class (�8.1.1.2) are implicitly final, because it is impossible to override them. It is permitted but not required for the declarations of such methods to redundantly include the final keyword.

Therefore, the method is implicitly final because it's private. The reason you can create a new method with the same name in the subclass is because private methods are not visible from subclasses.
I hope that helps,
Corey

[Rob Ross]

Private methods are not inherited. They're not part of the subclass.
That's why you can re-use the same name for a brand new method, that has no relationship with the method in the superclass, because it is not inherited. But this can lead to confusion, so it's best not to reuse names of private methods in your subclasses.

[J Hreich]

Thanks to all.
Great responses.