Effective Java 36 Consistently use the Override annotation

Principle

Use the Override annotation on every method declaration that you believe to override a superclass declaration.

 

// Can you spot the bug?

public class Bigram {

private final char first;

private final char second;

public Bigram(char first, char second) {

this.first = first;

this.second = second;

}

// This method is not the equals(Object) 's override, it's just a new method

public boolean equals(Bigram b) {

return b.first == first && b.second == second;

}

public int hashCode() {

return 31 * first + second;

}

public static void main(String[] args) {

Set<Bigram> s = new HashSet<Bigram>();

for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++)

for (char ch = 'a'; ch <= 'z'; ch++)

s.add(new Bigram(ch, ch));

System.out.println(s.size()); // it will print 260 not 26.

}

}

 

The @Override annotation will help you find the issue at the compile time.

Bigram.java:10: method does not override or implement a method

from a supertype

@Override public boolean equals(Bigram b) {

^

// The correct overriding

@Override public boolean equals(Object o) {

if (!(o instanceof Bigram))

return false;

Bigram b = (Bigram) o;

return b.first == first && b.second == second;

}

   

Note

It is worth annotating all methods that you believe to override superclass or super interface methods, whether concrete or abstract. For example, the Set interface adds no new methods to the Collection interface, so it should include Override annotations on all of its method declarations, to ensure that it does not accidentally add any new methods to the Collection interface.

   

Summary

The compiler can protect you from a great many errors if you use the Override annotation on every method declaration that you believe to override a supertype declaration, with one exception. In concrete classes, you need not annotate methods that you believe to override abstract method declarations(though it is not harmful to do so).