diff betwn method and constructer

[ganesh pol]

hi friends do any one knows what is diff betwn method which has same name as
class name and return type void and construter

eg
public class C1
{
public C1(){ <<<<-----constructer
//some initialization code here
}

public void C1()<<<----method name same as class name and return nothing
{
//some code
}

[Andrew Nomos]

A constructor is called during object instantiation and cannot be invoked explicitly.
A method represents object behaviour and can be invoked at any time.

[Ryan McGuire]

Originally posted by Andrew Nomos:
A constructor is called during object instantiation and cannot be invoked explicitly.
A method represents object behaviour and can be invoked at any time.

Well...
If you have a constructor declared...
public MyClass(String s, int i)
you can "explicitly" invoke it with...
MyClass myObj = new MyClass("Andrew", 42);

Granted, you're actually expilicitly invoking the "new", but there is an obvious correspondence between the constructor signature and the code written to access it.

Other difference:
- Constructor chaining. A call to super() or super(some args) must be the first statement in a constructor if one appears at all. If the first executable statement isn't a call to one of the superclass's constructors, then a call to super() is automatically added.
- Explicit "return type". Calling "new Component()" will definitely give you a Component. However if you have a method with a declared return type of Component, it is free to return a Component or an instance of any of its subclasses.

There's probably more.

Ryan

[Hentay Duke]

www.google.com , really it doesn't bite.

[ June 07, 2005: Message edited by: Hentay Duke ]
[ June 07, 2005: Message edited by: Hentay Duke ]

[Pete Low]

Hi,

Wrt the code :

public void C1()<<<----method name same as class name and return nothing
{
//some code
}


I thought the keyword void should not be included as it is a constructor.
Only different parameters are allowed.

[Steven Bell]

Java does not exclude the use of the class name as a method name. Having the void return type defines that as a method and not a constructor. This is completely worthless, you should never do it, but you may see it on something like the SCJP.