C# Method Overloading with examples
In the previous tutorial, we discussed the C# function with a different name. In this tutorial, you will learn about method overloading in C# programming. Two or more methods having the same name but different argument(s) is known as a method overload or method overloading in C#.
The function is a block of code that executes the statements for a specific purpose. We create a function for the different task with a different name but in method overloading, we can create function with the same name but different arguments. In C#, the functions have the same name if the number and/or type of arguments passed is different.
Let's understand the C# method overload with example.
C# method overloading example -
int Mul() { }// function for multiplication
int Mul(int x) { }
float Mul(double x) { }
int Mul(int x, double y) { }
In the above example, there are four functions having the same name but different argument(S).In C# method overloading, the data types may the same or different but argument(s) should be different.
Let's implement the example for method overloading in C#.
C# Method overloading example-
In this example, we will find out the multiplication of two and three numbers using different parameters.
using System;
public class Calculator{
public static int Mul(int x,int y){
return x*y;
}
public static double Mul(double x, double y, double w)
{
return x*y*w;
}
}
public class MethodOverloading
{
public static void Main()
{
Console.WriteLine("Multiplication of x and y = "+Calculator.Mul(4, 8));
Console.WriteLine("Multiplication of x,y and w = "+Calculator.Mul(4.5, 3.5, 4.8));
}
}
Output -
Multiplication of x and y = 32 Multiplication of x,y and w = 75.6
In the example, we used int and float data types with two functions having the same name "Mul". In the above C# example, we used different data types with different number of the argument.
Let's create another example with the same data type.
C# method overloading with same data types -
using System;
public class Calculator{
public static int Mul(int x,int y){
return x*y;
}
public static double Mul(int x, int y, int w)
{
return x*y*w;
}
}
public class MethodOverloading
{
public static void Main()
{
Console.WriteLine("Multiplication of x and y = "+Calculator.Mul(4, 8));
Console.WriteLine("Multiplication of x,y and w = "+Calculator.Mul(4, 5, 4));
}
}
Output -
Multiplication of x and y = 32 Multiplication of x,y and w = 80
In the above C# method overloading, we used the same data types but the different number of the argument.
C# method overloading: same data type and same number of the argument but different variables-
using System;
public class Calculator{
public static int Mul(int x,int y){
return x*y;
}
public static int Mul(int a, int b)
{
return a*b;
}
}
public class MethodOverloading
{
public static void Main()
{
Console.WriteLine("Multiplication of x and y = "+Calculator.Mul(4, 8));
Console.WriteLine("Multiplication of a and b= "+Calculator.Mul(4, 5));
}
}
Execute the above C# method overloading program and it gives the error.
main.cs(9,23): error CS0111: A member `Calculator.Mul(int, int)' is already defined. Rename this member or use different parameter types main.cs(4,23): (Location of the symbol related to previous error)
Why error?
The same number of arguments with the same data type.
Remove this error -
To remove this error use the different number of argument or use different data types.
C# method overloading: Same number of the argument but different data types-
using System;
public class Calculator{
public static int Mul(int x,int y){
return x*y;
}
public static float Mul(float a, float b)
{
return a*b;
}
}
public class MethodOverloading
{
public static void Main()
{
Console.WriteLine("Multiplication of x and y = "+Calculator.Mul(4, 8));
Console.WriteLine("Multiplication of a and b= "+Calculator.Mul(4.6f,9.3f));
}
}
Output -
Multiplication of x and y = 32 Multiplication of a and b= 42.78
