[1.7.10] What happens if I forget @Override?

[American2050]

I always wonder....

 

What happens if I forget the @Override on some method...

 

For example in a Block that extends Block, what would happen if I forget the @Override?

 

	@Override
    public MapColor getMapColor(int p_149728_1_)
    {
        return MapColor.stoneColor;
    }

 

If I just have:

 

    public MapColor getMapColor(int p_149728_1_)
    {
        return MapColor.stoneColor;
    }

 

Would it be a problem? Is @Override really important?

[Failender]

seriously ask that google

[Major Squirrel]

Let's say you have an AwesomeBlock that extends Block. The following class prototyping is :

 

public class AwesomeBlock extends Block

 

The class Block contains a method called getBlockName(), that displays the name of the Block. By default, it displays "Block !". Because you extended Block to your AwesomeBlock, you can call the getBlockName() method from an AwesomeBlock object.

 

AwesomeBlock block = new AwesomeBlock();

block.getBlockName();

 

This will display : "Block !". Why ? Because you have not overriden the getBlockName() into your AwesomeBlock class. After all, you want the getBlockName() function to display "Awesome Block !", so you have to @Override the getBlockName() method into your AwesomeBlock to let it display "AwesomeBlock !".

 

In your AwesomeBlock class, you have :

 

@Override
public void getBlockName() {
  System.out.println("AwesomeBlock !");
}

 

and then, if you call the getBlockName() method from your AwesomeBlock, it will now display "AwesomeBlock !".  This is "overriding". See this link for more infos.

[Draco18s]

Ugh.

 

Seriously people, @Override is an IDE annotation.  It makes Eclipse (or IntelliJ) make sure that the function you have marked as override is actually overriding a function in the superclass hierarchy.

 

"Not putting the annotation" will do jack shit other than not alerting you to potential problems.

[American2050]

Let's say you have an AwesomeBlock that extends Block. The following class prototyping is :

 

public class AwesomeBlock extends Block

 

The class Block contains a method called getBlockName(), that displays the name of the Block. By default, it displays "Block !". Because you extended Block to your AwesomeBlock, you can call the getBlockName() method from an AwesomeBlock object.

 

AwesomeBlock block = new AwesomeBlock();

block.getBlockName();

 

This will display : "Block !". Why ? Because you have not overriden the getBlockName() into your AwesomeBlock class. After all, you want the getBlockName() function to display "Awesome Block !", so you have to @Override the getBlockName() method into your AwesomeBlock to let it display "AwesomeBlock !".

 

In your AwesomeBlock class, you have :

 

@Override
public void getBlockName() {
  System.out.println("AwesomeBlock !");
}

 

and then, if you call the getBlockName() method from your AwesomeBlock, it will now display "AwesomeBlock !".  This is "overriding". See this link for more infos.

 

Thanks Major Squirrel great explanation What I wasn't sure about is what would happen if I forget to indicate that I'm overriding another method.

[jeffryfisher]

If you leave out the annotation, then you won't be warned if you miss your target (misspell the method name, get the mixed case name wrong, use the wrong types for the parameters).

 

When you first write a program, you'll probably get it right without warnings. However, as a program ages, things can change. The parent's method might change, so you'd like warnings to pop up on supposed overrides. You might change a type somewhere, so you'd like to be warned that it no longer fits where needed.

 

So, the annotation is not *needed*, but you want to put it in wherever it fits so that you'll get a reminder whenever you (or vanilla code) might do something that would break its promise.

 

Note: There are a whole slew of vanilla methods (mostly involving block states) that changed between 1.7 and 1.8. Because I religiously annotated all of my overrides, I am now being alerted to each and every mismatch as I upgrade my mods to 1.8.