Overload with different return type in java?

Question

So, I am just starting Java and, even though I have looked in some question about it here at stackoverflow.com and elsewhere, haven't been able to find a straightforward answer to why isn't possible to overload a function just by changing the return type. Why is it so? Will that provably change in a future version of Java?

By the way, just for reference, is this possible in C++?

Thanks.

Answer 1

You can't do it in Java, and you can't do it in C++. The rationale is that the return value alone is not sufficient for the compiler to figure out which function to call:

public int foo() {...}
public float foo() {..}

...
foo(); // which one?

Answer 2

The reason is that overloads in Java are only allowed for methods with different signatures.

The return type is not part of the method signature, hence cannot be used to distinguish overloads.

See Defining Methods from the Java tutorials.