Class Default Method

[Mike Dennison]

Whilst working through a Java tutorial I noticed that the File class has a default method
i.e.
File myFile = new File("c:/dir1/myfile.txt");
System.out.println("My file is " + myFile);
displays
My file is c:\dir1\myfile.txt
Presumably toString() is the "default" method for the File class.
Q1. Do all classes have "default" methods?
Q2. As all class inherit from Object is toString() always the "default" method?
Q3. If not how do you specify a "default" method.
Mike Dennison
slightly confused in Woodford Green

[Michael Morris]

Hi Mike,
Welcome to JavaRanch. All java classes have a default toString() method since they inherit it from the Object class. In the case of the File class though, toString() is not the default version but an overloaded version defined in the File class.
Try this:

import java.io.*;
import java.util.*;
public class TestToString {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        File f = new File("TestToString.java");
        Object o = new Object();
        System.out.println("File.toString(): " + f);
        System.out.println("Object.toString(): " + o);
    }
}

Here's the output:

File.toString(): TestToString.java
Object.toString(): java.lang.Object@13f5d07

Note that the Object version of toString() prints the class and the memory position for the object reference.

[Bear Bibeault]

... and, toString() isn't really a "default" method. The definition of the "+" operator when used for String concatentation specifies that a class' toString() method be called to convert the operand to a string so that it can be operated upon. Outside of this operation, there is no such concept of a "default" method.
hth,
bear

[Michael Morris]

... and, toString() isn't really a "default" method. The definition of the "+" operator when used for String concatentation specifies that a class' toString() method be called to convert the operand to a string so that it can be operated upon. Outside of this operation, there is no such concept of a "default" method.
More specifically, a StringBuffer is created to concatenate the Strings by calling the appropriate append() method. To spare any confusion to someone making their first post in the Beginner forum, I saw no point in getting into a discussion on semantics. In my mind the question clearly dealt with polymorphism regarding inherited methods. But I would also argue that in some contexts the term default is used to describe a method defined in a super class that may be overridden. For example, all of the abstract Adapter classes in the java.awt.event package have empty default implementations for each event type so that subclasses can override only those events that they are interested in.

[Ilja Preuss]

So what is in fact happening is that the compiler translates
System.out.println("My file is " + myFile);
into
System.out.println(new StringBuffer().append("My file is ").append(myFile).toString());
The append method as overloaded for Objects (which gets called with myFile as parameter) calls String.valueOf(myFile), which in turn calls myFile.toString() if myFile is not null.

[Mike Dennison]

Wow! I'm impressed - so many excellent replies - so quickly. That really helps me a lot.
If I may ask one further question. Ilja mentioned how the java compiler processes the "+" operator in println statements, where's the best place to read up on this sort of stuff?
Mike