OffTopic - strange overloaded method behaviour

[Sourabh Kulkarni]

Hi,     This is a bit OffTopic. I have written following overloaded methods. private boolean validate(Tag tag, Object value) private boolean validate(Tag tag, Number value) private boolean validate(Tag tag, String value) private boolean validate(Tag tag, Boolean value)   The invoking code is in the same class. The relevant part is given below     Set set = valuesMap.entrySet();   Iterator itr = set.iterator();   String tagname, msg;   Object value, tag;   Map.Entry entry;   Tag t;   boolean valid;   while (itr.hasNext()) {    entry = (Map.Entry) itr.next();    tagname = (String) entry.getKey();    value = entry.getValue();    tag = tagMap.get(tagname);    file://if not null and valid, then remove it from the valuesMap and send for writing    if ((tag != null) && (value != null) && validate((Tag) tag, value)) {         file://do something     }   I am having an entry in the map as "name"=Float . At execution time, I expected the method validate(Tag, Number) to be invoked rather than validate(Tag, Object). But I observed that validate(Tag, Object) was invoked. I am confused by this behaviour. Am I missing something ?   TIA, -sourabh ---- Sourabh Kulkarni Embedded Systems Group. rapidEffect (P) Ltd.25,Napier Road, Pune 411 001 Tel./Fax. +91-20-6363250   www.rapideffect.com