Calling methods of super-classes

Question

This program is supposed to individually call the funFact of each subclass but instead, it calls the funFact method only from the Mammal class. What am I doing wrong?

 public class MammalFacts{
        public static class Mammal{
            public static String funFact(){
                return "If you are reading this, there's a 70% chance you're a mammal";
            }//end funFact

        }//end mammal
        public static class Primate extends Mammal{
            public static String funFact(){
                return "All primates can fly";
            }
        }//end Primate
        public static class Monkey extends Primate{
            public static String funFact(){
                return "Monkies will rule the earth someday";
            }
        }
        public static void main(String[]args){
            Mammal[]i = new Mammal[3];
            i[0] = new Mammal();
            i[1] = new Primate();
            i[2] = new Monkey();

            for(int c = 0; c < i.length; c++){
                System.out.println(i[c].funFact());
            }
        }//end of main
    }//end MammalFacts

If you are creating each animal as an object, then you don't need the funFact function to be static — LordSquall, Dec 09 '14 at 15:09
Check this out too: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2223386/why-doesnt-java-allow-overriding-of-static-methods — Chris Sprague, Dec 09 '14 at 15:27

score 6 · Answer 1 · answered Dec 09 '14 at 15:09

6

funFact is static. Overriding doesn't work on static methods.

Remove the static keyword from all your methods (as you are calling them via an instance reference anyway) and it will work as you expected.

answered Dec 09 '14 at 15:09

Eran

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score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 09 '14 at 15:10

2

If you "override" the static method, you are hiding the method, not really overriding.

read this:

https://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/java/IandI/override.html

the "Static Methods" section exactly answers your question.

answered Dec 09 '14 at 15:10

Kent

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Calling methods of super-classes

2 Answers2