Purwanchal Vidyamandir
SESSION- 2021-22
STUDY MATERIAL
SUBJECT- COMPUTER
APPLICATIONS
CLASS- IX
NOTES ON FUNCTION OVERLOADING :--
If a class has multiple methods having same name but different in parameters, it is known as Method
Overloading.
If we have to perform only one operation, having same name of the methods increases the readability of
the program.
Suppose you have to perform addition of the given numbers but there can be any number of arguments, if
you write the method such as a(int,int) for two parameters, and b(int,int,int) for three parameters then it
may be difficult for you as well as other programmers to understand the behavior of the method because
its name differs.
So, we perform method overloading to figure out the program quickly.
Advantage of method overloading
Method overloading increases the readability of the program.
Different ways to overload the method
There are two ways to overload the method in java
1. By changing number of arguments
2. By changing the data type
In Java, Method Overloading is not possible by changing the return type of the method only.
1) Method Overloading: changing no. of arguments
In this example, we have created two methods, first add() method performs addition of two numbers and
second add method performs addition of three numbers.
In this example, we are creating static methods so that we don't need to create instance for calling
methods.
class Adder{
static int add(int a,int b){return a+b;}
static int add(int a,int b,int c){return a+b+c;}
}
class TestOverloading1{
public static void main(String[] args){
System.out.println(Adder.add(11,11));
System.out.println(Adder.add(11,11,11));
}}
Test it Now
Output:
22
33
2) Method Overloading: changing data type of arguments
In this example, we have created two methods that differs in data type. The first add method receives two
integer arguments and second add method receives two double arguments.
class Adder{
static int add(int a, int b){return a+b;}
static double add(double a, double b){return a+b;}
}
class TestOverloading2{
public static void main(String[] args){
System.out.println(Adder.add(11,11));
System.out.println(Adder.add(12.3,12.6));
}}
Test it Now
Output:
22
24.9
Q) Why Method Overloading is not possible by changing the return type of
method only?
In java, method overloading is not possible by changing the return type of the method only because of
ambiguity. Let's see how ambiguity may occur:
class Adder{
static int add(int a,int b){return a+b;}
static double add(int a,int b){return a+b;}
}
class TestOverloading3{
public static void main(String[] args){
System.out.println(Adder.add(11,11));//ambiguity
}}
Test it Now
Output:
Compile Time Error: method add(int,int) is already defined in class Adder
System.out.println(Adder.add(11,11)); //Here, how can java determine which sum() method should be
called?
Note: Compile Time Error is better than Run Time Error. So, java compiler renders compiler time error if you
declare the same method having same parameters.
Can we overload java main() method?
Yes, by method overloading. You can have any number of main methods in a class by method
overloading. But JVM calls main() method which receives string array as arguments only. Let's see the
simple example:
class TestOverloading4{
public static void main(String[] args){System.out.println("main with String[]");}
public static void main(String args){System.out.println("main with String");}
public static void main(){System.out.println("main without args");}
}
Test it Now
Output:
main with String[]
PURWANCHAL VIDYAMANDIR
SESSION : 2021-2022
CLASS : IX
SUBJECT : COMPUTER APPLICATIONS
TOPIC : FUNCTION OVERLOADING
Q1 . Design a class to overload a function compared as follows :
(a) void compare(int, int) — to compare two integer values and print the greater of the
two integers.
(b) void compare(char, char) — to compare the numeric value of two characters and
print the character with higher numeric value.
(c) void compare(String, String) — to compare the length of the two strings and print
the longer of the two.
Q2 . Design a class to overload a function area( ) as follows:
(i) double area (double a, double b, double c) with three double arguments, returns the
area of a scalene triangle using the formula:
area = √s(s−a)(s−b)(s−c)
where s=( a+b+c) / 2
(ii) double area (int a, int b, int height) with three integer arguments, returns the area of
a trapezium using the formula:
area = 0.5 x height x (a + b)
(iii) double area (double diagonal 1, double diagonal 2) with two double arguments,
returns the area of a rhombus using the formula :
area = 0.5 x (diagonal 1 x diagonal 2)
