Method Overloading and Constructors in Java...

What is a Constructor in Java?

A constructor is a special method that is used to initialize objects in Java. It has the same name as the class and does not have a return type—not even void.

Key Points:

Called automatically when an object is created.
Can be overloaded (just like methods).
Used to assign initial values to object properties.

Syntax Example:

class Car {
    String model;

    // Constructor
    Car(String m) {
        model = m;
    }
}

In the above example, when you create a Car object with new Car("Toyota"), the constructor sets the model.

What is Method Overloading?

Method overloading allows a class to have more than one method with the same name, but different parameter lists (type or number of parameters).

Key Points:

Increases readability of the program.
Compiler determines which method to call based on arguments.
Return type can be different, but it’s not enough to overload a method just by changing the return type.

Example:

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

    double add(double a, double b) {
        return a + b;
    }

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

Here, the method add is overloaded three times with different parameter combinations.

Constructor Overloading

Just like methods, constructors can also be overloaded to provide different ways to initialize an object.

Example:

class Student {
    String name;
    int age;

    Student() {
        name = "Unknown";
        age = 0;
    }

    Student(String n, int a) {
        name = n;
        age = a;
    }
}