Monday, June 4, 2007

java.util.Calendar.clone() hasn't been updated for 5.0

java.util.Calendar.clone() returns Object. What?!?!?!? Are you crazy? This function overrides Object.clone(), so there's no need to use an Object return type. The return type will *always* be Calendar. And, Java 5.0 specifically allows for this (return type to be a subclass of overridden method's return type). In "Java in a Nutshell", David Flanagan notes (pg. 120, 5th ed.):
In Java 5.0 and later, the return type of the overriding method may be a subclass of return type of the overridden method instead of being exactly the same return type. This is known as a covariant return and is described in "Covariant Return Types" in Chapter 2.
Hopefully the Object return type is an oversight that will be corrected in Java 6.

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