constructor returning

[Gil Li]

Hello people
I heard that constructor doesnot return anything.But I tried the following code. I cant understand the real thing about constructor.Help me.


/*
This code compiles without any problems
*/

class sample {

public int sample()
{

return 5;
}


public static void main(String a[])
{

}

}

[somkiat puisungnoen]

In java specification,

Contructor not have return type, name like class name, can define public/private/default.

In your code.

 /*
This code compiles without any problems
*/
 
class sample {
 
public int sample()
{
 
return 5;
}
 

public static void main(String a[])
{
 
}
 
} 

public int sample() is method for this class ,not constructor.

[Pradeep bhatt]

public int sample()

is a method and not a constructor.

It is valid to have a method name same as the Constructor name. This should be avoided so as not to create confusion.

[fred rosenberger]

While a constructor must have the same name as the class, it also CANNOT have a return type. as soon as you put that 'int' into the line ' public int sample()', you no longer had a constructor, but a method.

as others have pointed out, it's a bad choice for a method name, but it is a legal one.

[Ilja Preuss]

Originally posted by fred rosenberger:

as others have pointed out, it's a bad choice for a method name, but it is a legal one.

As an aside, the eclipse compiler can be configured to flag this as a warning or even error. I think that's a good idea...