Java dynamic binding and method overriding

dynamic-bindinginheritancejava

Yesterday I had a two-hour technical phone interview (which I passed, woohoo!), but I completely muffed up the following question regarding dynamic binding in Java. And it's doubly puzzling because I used to teach this concept to undergraduates when I was a TA a few years ago, so the prospect that I gave them misinformation is a little disturbing…

Here's the problem I was given:

/* What is the output of the following program? */

public class Test {

  public boolean equals( Test other ) {
    System.out.println( "Inside of Test.equals" );
    return false;
  }

  public static void main( String [] args ) {
    Object t1 = new Test();
    Object t2 = new Test();
    Test t3 = new Test();
    Object o1 = new Object();

    int count = 0;
    System.out.println( count++ );// prints 0
    t1.equals( t2 ) ;
    System.out.println( count++ );// prints 1
    t1.equals( t3 );
    System.out.println( count++ );// prints 2
    t3.equals( o1 );
    System.out.println( count++ );// prints 3
    t3.equals(t3);
    System.out.println( count++ );// prints 4
    t3.equals(t2);
  }
}

I asserted that the output should have been two separate print statements from within the overridden equals() method: at t1.equals(t3) and t3.equals(t3). The latter case is obvious enough, and with the former case, even though t1 has a reference of type Object, it is instantiated as type Test, so dynamic binding should call the overridden form of the method.

Apparently not. My interviewer encouraged me to run the program myself, and lo and behold, there was only a single output from the overridden method: at the line t3.equals(t3).

My question then is, why? As I mentioned already, even though t1 is a reference of type Object (so static binding would invoke Object's equals() method), dynamic binding should take care of invoking the most specific version of the method based on the instantiated type of the reference. What am I missing?

Best Answer

Java uses static binding for overloaded methods, and dynamic binding for overridden ones. In your example, the equals method is overloaded (has a different param type than Object.equals()), so the method called is bound to the reference type at compile time.

Some discussion here

The fact that it is the equals method is not really relevant, other than it is a common mistake to overload instead of override it, which you are already aware of based on your answer to the problem in the interview.

Edit: A good description here as well. This example is showing a similar problem related to the parameter type instead, but caused by the same issue.

I believe if the binding were actually dynamic, then any case where the caller and the parameter were an instance of Test would result in the overridden method being called. So t3.equals(o1) would be the only case that would not print.

Related Solutions

Java – What are the differences between a HashMap and a Hashtable in Java

There are several differences between HashMap and Hashtable in Java:

Hashtable is synchronized, whereas HashMap is not. This makes HashMap better for non-threaded applications, as unsynchronized Objects typically perform better than synchronized ones.
Hashtable does not allow null keys or values. HashMap allows one null key and any number of null values.
One of HashMap's subclasses is LinkedHashMap, so in the event that you'd want predictable iteration order (which is insertion order by default), you could easily swap out the HashMap for a LinkedHashMap. This wouldn't be as easy if you were using Hashtable.

Since synchronization is not an issue for you, I'd recommend HashMap. If synchronization becomes an issue, you may also look at ConcurrentHashMap.

Java – Is Java “pass-by-reference” or “pass-by-value”

Java is always pass-by-value. Unfortunately, when we deal with objects we are really dealing with object-handles called references which are passed-by-value as well. This terminology and semantics easily confuse many beginners.

It goes like this:

public static void main(String[] args) {
    Dog aDog = new Dog("Max");
    Dog oldDog = aDog;

    // we pass the object to foo
    foo(aDog);
    // aDog variable is still pointing to the "Max" dog when foo(...) returns
    aDog.getName().equals("Max"); // true
    aDog.getName().equals("Fifi"); // false
    aDog == oldDog; // true
}

public static void foo(Dog d) {
    d.getName().equals("Max"); // true
    // change d inside of foo() to point to a new Dog instance "Fifi"
    d = new Dog("Fifi");
    d.getName().equals("Fifi"); // true
}

In the example above aDog.getName() will still return "Max". The value aDog within main is not changed in the function foo with the Dog "Fifi" as the object reference is passed by value. If it were passed by reference, then the aDog.getName() in main would return "Fifi" after the call to foo.

Likewise:

public static void main(String[] args) {
    Dog aDog = new Dog("Max");
    Dog oldDog = aDog;

    foo(aDog);
    // when foo(...) returns, the name of the dog has been changed to "Fifi"
    aDog.getName().equals("Fifi"); // true
    // but it is still the same dog:
    aDog == oldDog; // true
}

public static void foo(Dog d) {
    d.getName().equals("Max"); // true
    // this changes the name of d to be "Fifi"
    d.setName("Fifi");
}

In the above example, Fifi is the dog's name after call to foo(aDog) because the object's name was set inside of foo(...). Any operations that foo performs on d are such that, for all practical purposes, they are performed on aDog, but it is not possible to change the value of the variable aDog itself.

For more information on pass by reference and pass by value, consult the following SO answer: https://stackoverflow.com/a/430958/6005228. This explains more thoroughly the semantics and history behind the two and also explains why Java and many other modern languages appear to do both in certain cases.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Java – What are the differences between a HashMap and a Hashtable in Java

Java – Is Java “pass-by-reference” or “pass-by-value”

Related Topic