🚀 go-pugleaf

: Impact
: ------

: Fixing this problem would require doing overload resolution at load time, 
: which in addition to being slower, is not possible given the information
: accessible in the (supposedly stable) Java binary distribution standard.
: The exact static types of all actual arguments are required, which are 
: not available at runtime (as opposed to the formal signature of the method 
: invoked, which is what Java currently keeps).  This means that there is 
: simply not enough information to solve the problem in the distribution 
: format for Java.  Adding full actual argument type information to the 
: binary form would allow runtime resolution to be done, but this would 
: have a real size (and download delay) impact, since there are far more 
: calls than there are method signatures called.

Of course the fast and easy way to correct this is to disallow automatic
conversion of arguments (always say what you mean) and disallow covariance
of returned type (always do what you say). Two fixes that would make the
language cleaner IMHO.

Also, let's not confuse the Java language and the Java environment. And
anyway, anyone who has ever updated softwares know that even if you comply
with interface, nothing ganrantee that the actual implementation code is
correct and compatible with all unspecified assumption of the calling
code. Nothing beats testing.

: While it is marginally ok for decorative applets to "usually" behave
: correctly, this is an unacceptable property if Java is to be used for
: mission critical software.  It looks like some rethinking will have
: to be done.