*why* can't static methods be overridden?

[Karen Nelson]

Hi,
I understand that static methods can't be overridden, but why? What disaster would happen if you were allowed to override a static method?
Thanks! Karen.

[Nikhil Goel]

Static methods are class levele methods and hence can't be over ridden . OOPS concepts like inheritance work on objects not on classes .
static is provided so that you don't need to create objects of the class . If objects aren't created then how will you have inheritance

[Saket Barve]

Static methods are accessed using class name and not from an instance of a class.

It therefore follows that the class type for the static method is the one that is set at complie time. As for the non-static (and non-final) methods, it is the runtime type of the class that determines which class' method to invoke.

This distinction is called hiding and overriding, further details of which are here:
Overriding and Hiding Methods

[marc weber]

Originally posted by Karen Nelson:
... What disaster would happen if you were allowed to override a static method? ...

It's not a question of preventing disaster. It's simply how method "binding" works in Java.

See if this link from our SCJP FAQ helps.

[Sujittt Tripathyrr]

Hi

I am able to override a static method.why it not be override.

[Shaan Shar]

Hi Sujittt Tripathyrr,


At one side you are telling that you are able to override a static method, and other side you are asking

"Why it not override"

Well I tell you, it is not like that, you can override static method, but it never seems to be overrided, because Static method only referred by Class only not by Object.

I can show you one example. even you can call static Method by a null object having that class Reference.

Check out this one:

[B]public class Sample1 {
public static void main(String ar[]) {
Sample1 sam = null;
sam.display();
}
public static void display() {
System.out.println("Static method Called");
}
}[/B]

This shows and proves that Static method cann't be logically overrided.

Hope It clears you.

[vidya sagar]

Additional stuff

[Karen Nelson]

Thanks to everybody who responded! I think I understand it better now -- especially, that I was approaching it from the wrong direction, trying to figure out what would be 'bad' about overriding a static method rather than thinking about the logic of the language.
-Karen.