Runtime polymorphism

Polymorphism in Java is a concept by which we can perform a single action in different ways. Polymorphism is derived from 2 Greek words: poly and morphs. The word "poly" means many and "morphs" means forms. So polymorphism means many forms.

There are two types of polymorphism in Java: compile-time polymorphism and runtime polymorphism. We can perform polymorphism in java by method overloading and method overriding.

If you overload a static method in Java, it is the example of compile time polymorphism. Here, we will focus on runtime polymorphism in java. Runtime polymorphism or Dynamic Method Dispatch is a process in which a call to an overridden method is resolved at runtime rather than compile-time. In this process, an overridden method is called through the reference variable of a superclass. The determination of the method to be called is based on the object being referred to by the reference variable. Method overriding is an example of runtime polymorphism. In method overriding, a subclass overrides a method with the same signature as that of in its superclass. During compile time, the check is made on the reference type. However, in the runtime, JVM figures out the object type and would run the method that belongs to that particular object.

Example

See the example below to understand the concept −

 Live Demo

class Animal {
   public void move() {
      System.out.println("Animals can move");
   }
}
class Dog extends Animal {
   public void move() {
      System.out.println("Dogs can walk and run");
   }
}
public class TestDog {
   public static void main(String args[]) {
      Animal a = new Animal(); // Animal reference and object
      Animal b = new Dog(); // Animal reference but Dog object
      a.move(); // runs the method in Animal class
      b.move(); // runs the method in Dog class
   }
}

Output

This will produce the following result −

Animals can move 

Dogs can walk and run