whether the eg overrides or overloads

[Praveen palukuri]

hi,
i've some doubt regarding the following eg

class A
{
protected metha()
{...}
}
class B extends A
{
private metha()
{....}
}

whether method in class B overrides/overloads method in class A.

Thank you in advance.

[Alana Sparx]

Sorry mate, it does neither - it'll throw an exception.

[Praveen palukuri]

may i know the reason to cause exception.

[Shyam Prasad Murarka]

Dear Praveen,
Over-riding: This is done when you provide a different implementation of a method (belonging to a super-class) in your class. This over-riding method should have the same signature as your superclass method. And along with that the access modifier that you specify for the over-riding method should have a scope equal to OR higher than the superclass method.
Hope I am not confusing matters here.
As you can see from the example you provided, the method in your subclass had a scope smaller than the superclass, so the compiler throws an error.
Over-loading: This is done when the method signature is the same but either of the following conditions should be met:

the number of parameters is different

the order of the parameters are different

the type of parameters are different

I have a feeling I have written a lot of information that may be incorrect. So just wait until an expert comes in and verifies the information. I just wrote my understanding of Overloading/Over-riding methods.
[ April 20, 2006: Message edited by: Shyam Murarka ]

[Rodrigo Alvarez]

Hi praveen,

your metha() in class B is (trying to) override the metha() in class A. Overloading is when you declare a method with the same name but a different signature (e.g.metha(int a) ).

Anyway, in yuor example it would not work : you cannot reduce the visibility of a method when you override it (and private is a "smaller" visibility than "protected").

=> you would get a compile time error

Cheers

[Vishnu Prakash]

Sorry mate, it does neither - it'll throw an exception.

WRONG.

It will NOT throw a runtime exception.

You will get compile time error stating weaker access privilege

[Ernest Friedman-Hill]

Unfortunately, this mistake is an all too common one: referring to compile errors as "exceptions."

[Alana Sparx]

I consider my slack, slapdash and lackadaisical attitude to semantics duly chastised and promise to sharpen up my attitude forthwith.

Basically dude, it isnae gonnae wurk.