Method overriding

Method overriding, in object oriented programming, is a language feature that allows a subclass or child class to provide a specific implementation of a method that is already provided by one of its superclasses or parent classes.

Description

The implementation in the subclass overrides (replaces) the implementation in the superclass by providing a method that has same name, same parameters or signature, and same return type as the method in the parent class.

The version of a method that is executed will be determined by the object that is used to invoke it.

If an object of a parent class is used to invoke the method, then the version in the parent class will be executed, but if an object of the subclass is used to invoke the method, then the version in the child class will be executed

Some programming languages allow a computer programmer to prevent a method from being overridden.

See also

• Implementation inheritance
• Inheritance semantics
• Method overloading
• Object oriented programming
• Polymorphism in object-oriented programming
• Template method pattern
• Virtual inheritance

External links

• Method overriding @ wiki.karljones.com