I have two Java functions:
/**
* Do something with param
*/
public String doSomething(String param) {...};
/**
* ...
*/
public String doSomething(Integer param) {...};
How can I make the second function's description to show an exact copy of the first function?
Assuming copy and paste won't work for you, I believe the convention is to use the @see tag to refer to another method which will give greater detail.
In your example the doSomething(Integer param) would have an @see tag referring to the String version.
Wikipedia has some examples, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Javadoc
As does the oracle site for the javadoc tool http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/documentation/index-137868.html#multiple@see
The short answer is you can't. Customary is to make use of the @see directive or simply copy pasting.
If you are subclassing you can put the javadoc on the interface level instead to achieve what you want.
As two methods with different type params can't have the same description. But for inherited method we can use same description.
For inherited method u can use
{@inheritDoc}
It copies the description from the overridden method.
You don't want to do that. You want the second one to refer to the first one. That's what @see is for. You never want to repeat documentation, for the same reason that your second method calls the first method instead of containing a copy of its code.
Don't just use {@see ...}, which has a different meaning and has some problems (like not overriding inherited documentation).
A spartan /** See: {@link ...}. */ is better.
However, best is to add a bit more text than just "See". Briefly describe the intent of this method and what is specific to it, and {@link ...} to a method which explains the full contract in detail. This is often done in the JDK and other libraries and is a good practice.
Eg:
/**
* Does something very important.
* For details see {@link #doSomething(Integer)}.
*/
or:
/**
* Does something very important.
* Equivalent to calling {@link #doSomething(Integer) doSomething(0)}.
*/
