Late Binding in Java

Question

I have searched through all the similar questions on late binding on stack overflow, and I would severely disagree with anyone who marks this question as a duplicate. First

Answer 1

Java uses late binding for all non-final, non-private instance methods. This is how polymorphism is implemented. All of the calls you commented on are determined at run time.

In

A a=new A();
a.foo(); 

a is referencing an A object so A's implementation will be found, bound and used.

In

B b=new B();
b.foo();

b is referencing a B object so B's implementation will be found, bound, and used.

In

ref=b;
ref.foo();

ref is referencing a B object so B's implementation will be found, bound, and used.

The static (declared) type of the variable is only used by the compiler to verify that such a method is accessible on that type.

Related:

• What is early and late binding?