Difference Between Method vs Constructor In Java With Example

Method vs Constructor In Java: In this article, we will list the difference between method and constructor in Java. Let us detail out the difference between Method v/s Constructor in tabular form below,

Method vs Constructor In Java

MethodConstructor
Methods are the member function of any class to expose the behaviour of an objectThe constructor is a special type of method to initialize objects
Methods are invoked using the newly created objectUsing constructor, new objects are created
Methods are invoked explicitly using newly created objectsThe constructor is called implicitly while creating objects using ‘new’ keyword
Methods should or must have return type although voidThe constructor does not have return type not even void
When a class inherits, methods can be overriddenThe constructor doesn’t support inheritance and hence overriding is not possible
There are no such things like compiler provides methods during compilationThe default constructor is provided by the compiler after compilation if there is no explicit constructor available
Name of the methods are different from class name (99.9 %) but can have the same name as that of className of the constructor must be the same as that of the class name
There is no such thing for methods in JavaThe constructor is called in the order and this is known as constructor chaining in Java
Methods are explicitly invoked using newly created reference objectsTo invoke another constructor in the chaining process, this(args) and super(args) keywords are used
Private methods cannot be overridden in the inheritance conceptThe private constructor is used for the singleton design pattern which restricts to create more than one object of that class

Example of method overloading and constructor overloading

1. Example of Method Overloading

TestJavaOverload.java

package in.bench.resources.java.overload;
package in.bench.resources.constructor.example;
public class TestJavaOverload 
{
   void add(int num1, float num2) 
   {
      System.out.println("The summation of 2 numbers : " + (num1 + num2));
   }
   void add(int num1, float num2, int num3) 
   {
      System.out.println("The summation of 3 numbers : " + (num1 + num2 + num3));
   }
   public static void main(String args[]) 
   {TestJavaOverload t1 = new TestJavaOverload();
   t1.add(12, 16f); // invoking 1st method with 2 arguments
   t1.add(10, 20f, 30); // invoking 1st method with 3 arguments
   }
}

Output: 

The summation of 2 numbers : 28.0
The summation of 3 numbers : 60.0

2. Example of Constructor Overloading

Employee.java

package in.bench.resources.constructor.example;
public class Employee 
{
   // member variables
   int employeeId;
   String employeeName;
   // default constructor
   Employee() {
      System.out.println("Employee class >> Inside default constructor");
      this.employeeId = 000;
      this.employeeName = "Employee 0";
   }
   // parametrized constructor
   Employee(int id, String name) {
      System.out.println("Employee class >> Inside parametrized constructor");
      this.employeeId = id;
      this.employeeName = name;
   }
   // display() method
   void displayEmployeeInfo() {
      System.out.println("Employee details\nId: " + employeeId + "\t Name: " + employeeName + "\n");
   }
   // main() method - entry point to JVM
   public static void main(String args[]) {
      Employee emp0 = new Employee();
      emp0.displayEmployeeInfo();
      Employee emp1 = new Employee(19, "Rahul Dravid");
      emp1.displayEmployeeInfo();
   }
}

Output:

Employee class >> Inside default constructor
Employee details
Id: 0    Name: Employee 0
 
Employee class >> Inside parametrized constructor
Employee details
Id: 19   Name: Rahul Dravid

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I love open-source technologies and am very passionate about software development. I like to share my knowledge with others, especially on technology that's why I have given all the examples as simple as possible to understand for beginners. All the code posted on my blog is developed, compiled, and tested in my development environment. If you find any mistakes or bugs, Please drop an email to softwaretestingo.com@gmail.com, or You can join me on Linkedin.

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