New to Java

My question is can static methods be overridden ?

I found this thread [Can Static Method be overridden ?|http://forums.sun.com/thread.jspa?threadID=644752&start=0&tstart=0] .Since it was too old,i have created this new thread.



According to that thread discussion, Java language states that static methods cannot be overridden.

To which kajbj posted a program which did allow overriding of static methods.To quote him :

I filed a bug report on it. I don't know if it's expected behaviour or not, but I expect the compiler to complain if you add @Override to a static method (since it can't be overridden)

/Kaj 

This is one small program code which i wrote ,which did not allow static methods to be overridden,but no error as such was displayed.

package fundamentals;

class SuperClass
{
  
  public static String getName()
  {
	  return "HI,CLASS...SUPER CLASS";
  }
  
  public int getAge()
  {
	  return 20;
  }

} // END OF SUPER CLASS

public class SubClass extends SuperClass{

public static void main(String[] args)
 {

		SubClass objSubClass=new SubClass();
		SuperClass objSuperClass=new SubClass();
		
		System.out.println(objSubClass.getName());      // SUB CLASS 
		System.out.println(objSuperClass.getName());   // SUPER CLASS

		System.out.println(objSubClass.getAge());        // SUB CLASS 
		System.out.println(objSuperClass.getAge());     // SUPER CLASS

}

                 public    static String getName()
                 {
                   return "HI,CLASS...SUB CLASS";
                 }

                 public int getAge()
                  {
                    return 40;
                  }

} // END OF MAIN CLASS

Which gives the O/P :

HI,CLASS...SUB CLASS
HI,CLASS...SUPER CLASS
40
40

So,the static method was not overridden.

But ,why was no error message displayed ?


Also when i modify the subclass static method,by removing the static keyword as follows :

public  String getName()
                 {
                   return "HI,CLASS...SUB CLASS";
                 }

A Error Message as :

Exception in thread "main" java.lang.Error: Unresolved compilation problem: 
	This instance method cannot override the static method from SuperClass

is displayed.

Why this message is displayed after i remove the static keyword ?


So can we say that Java does not allow static method to be overridden but does not display a compile/run time error when this is done ?

Is this a bug as stated by kajbj ?

Please let me know if i am not clear.If this question has been answered somewhere else in this forum,kindly let me know.

Thank you for your consideration.