Can You Overload or Override Static methods in Java

Can static method be overridden in Java, or can you override and overload static method in Java, is a common Java interview question, mostly asked to 2 years experienced Java programmers. Answer is, No, you can not override static method in Java, though you can declare method with same signature in sub class. It won't be overridden in exact sense, instead that is called method hiding. But at same time, you can overload static methods in Java, there is nothing wrong declaring static methods with same name, but different arguments. Some time interviewer also ask, Why you can not override static methods in Java? Answer of this question lies on time of resolution. As I said in difference between static and dynamic binding , static method are bonded during compile time using Type of reference variable, and not Object. If you have using IDE like Netbeans and Eclipse, and If you try to access static methods using an object, you will see warnings. As per Java coding convention, static methods should be accessed by class name rather than object. In short Static method can be overloaded, but can not be overridden in Java. If you declare, another static method with same signature in derived class than static method of super class will be hidden, and any call to that static method in sub class will go to static method declared in that class itself. This is known as method hiding in Java.

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