Significance of 'final' modifier

[Mahendar Reddy]

Hi,Could anybody clarify my following doubt?

Is there any significance of 'final' modifier for private instance methods?

[James Basller]

Originally posted by Mahendar Reddy:
Hi,Could anybody clarify my following doubt?

Is there any significance of 'final' modifier for private instance methods?

hi,

I think the use of final in the signature of private method is like to make method output constant.

For Example,

if one have private method which returns int value but creator of that method doesn't want to modify the value which is returning by the method for that one can put final modifier ahead of method signature.

Thanks

[Ian Edwards]

You would normally use the final modifier on a method to prevent anyone over-riding the method if they are extending your class.

Of course, a private method cannot be inherited so a final modifier is redundant in this case.

[Jesper de Jong]

Originally posted by James_ Ryan:
I think the use of final in the signature of private method is like to make method output constant.

No, that is not at all what 'final' means when used on a method.

By making a method 'final', you can't override it in a subclass. But since private methods aren't visible to subclasses anyway, it makes no sense to make a private method 'final'.

[Ankit Garg]

actually private methods are final by default.... This doesn't mean that you can't declare a method in a sub-class with the same signature as of the private method. You can do that as private methods are not inherited, so that wont be called as overriding...

class A
{
  private final void method()
  {}
}
class B extend A
{
  void method()//OK
  {}
}

[Bob Ruth]

Thats the way I see final:

a) final class - can not be subclassed
b) final variable - can not be modified (constant)
c) final method - can not be overridden

[victor kamat]

A final variable which is a reference to a object referent must point to the same referent, but the referent's state can change and is therefore not a constant.

Also a final method cannot be overiddem but can be over-loaded.

[Anoobkumar Padmanabhan]

Hi

fianl keyword specifies something that the definition dont be changed. if it is a variable, the value wont be changed, for a method, it wont overriden and for a class, it wont inherit. upon inherit, the properties and methods may change.

in case of a private method to be final, there is no specific meaning. because, final method is the one cant be overrided. the private class itself cant be overrided.

The only differnce is that, when a subclass given definition to a private final method in its super class, it will compile fine(Because the methods dont have a relation- they are just two independednt methods). but when you give a definition for a final method(not private), ot will give a compilation error- "Cannot Override a final method"