Method Overloading

Syntax

returnType methodName(paramsA) { }\nreturnType methodName(paramsB) { }

Examples

public class Calculator {
    public int add(int a, int b) {
        return a + b;
    }

    public int add(int a, int b, int c) {
        return a + b + c;
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        Calculator calc = new Calculator();
        System.out.println(calc.add(2, 3));       // 5
        System.out.println(calc.add(2, 3, 4));     // 9
    }
}

public class Printer {
    public void display(int value) {
        System.out.println("Integer: " + value);
    }

    public void display(String value) {
        System.out.println("String: " + value);
    }

    public void display(double value) {
        System.out.println("Double: " + value);
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        Printer p = new Printer();
        p.display(42);        // Integer: 42
        p.display("hello");    // String: hello
        p.display(3.14);       // Double: 3.14
    }
}

public class Pizza {
    private String size;
    private int toppingCount;

    public Pizza() {
        this("Medium", 0);
    }

    public Pizza(String size) {
        this(size, 0);
    }

    public Pizza(String size, int toppingCount) {
        this.size = size;
        this.toppingCount = toppingCount;
    }

    public void describe() {
        System.out.println(size + " pizza with " + toppingCount + " toppings");
    }
}

new Pizza().describe();               // Medium pizza with 0 toppings
new Pizza("Large", 3).describe();      // Large pizza with 3 toppings

Best practices

• Only overload methods when the different versions perform genuinely similar, related operations - otherwise use distinct method names for clarity
• Avoid overloads that are ambiguous with automatic type widening (like both int and long versions), since the compiler may not resolve calls the way you expect
• Remember overload resolution happens at compile time based on the declared parameter types, not the runtime type of the arguments
• Use overloaded constructors together with this() chaining to avoid duplicating initialization logic across each version

At a glance

Purpose

General-purpose application development

File extension

.java

Runs in

Java Virtual Machine

Usually used with

JDK and Java libraries

Specifications & further reading

• Java Language Specification

Related Java documentation