Method with same name and signature but different return type in C#

Question

I had an interview where I was asked the following:

Question: A method with same name and signature but different return type. Is it possible and what is this type c

Answer 1

I recently had this exact issue since I was parsing a config file with various types that all use a standard sort of config.Parse(string settingName) type interface.

1st Solution Generic Method:

T Parse (string settingName)
{
    T Result;
    doParsing...
    return T;
}

I didn't really like this since it involved explicitly specifying the type that's being used such as someSetting = Parse("param");

So the solution I used is redundant but much more clean in my opinion:

T Parse (string settingName, out T result)
{
    doParsing...
    return T;
}

The out variable and the return are identical so it's a bit redundant but it enables what I think is a much cleaner interface:

setting = Parse("intparam", out setting);

And you get methods that vary only by return type for a slight cost of redundancy. On top of that if the type of your data changes, for instance from a double to a float, then you everything will continue working just fine, whereas with the first solution you'd end up getting cannot implicitly convert errors.