why need of “println(char[] x)” when there is already “println(Object x)” - java

Question

I was reading about println function and I came across that there is println(char[ ] x) as well as println(Object x)
https://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/api/java/io/PrintStream.html#println(char[])

My question is that: As arrays in java are object so what is the need to specifically overload println() with char[] whereas rest arrays like int[] etc. uses the println(Object x) overloaded function.

Answer 1

 println(Object x)

if you use it to print a char array (the char array is an object), it won't print the content but the objectClass@hashcode style. You can test it yourself to see the exact output.

Answer 2

Because they are implemented differently.

println(Object)

will (after checking for null , etc), call the parameter's toString() method and display the result of it.

The toString() method of an array is not useful: it will give you the array type and the hashcode of the array. So the overloaded form gives a more useful implementation in the case of a char[] parameter.

Note that, with most object types, the toString() method can be overridden (so overloading the println(...) method for every possible type is not necessary (or possible...). However, the toString() method cannot be overridden for arrays, so there is benefit to overloading println in this case.

Answer 3

Because it prints the char array as a string and otherwise prints in object form, and seeing the contents may be more convinient. You can try casting it to object first and see the difference.

Answer 4

Because print/ln(char[]) handles the actual printing of characters, toString() of the array object itself still provides the usual type+hash output, regardless of being an array of characters

char c[]={'a','b','c'};
Object o=c;
System.out.println(c);
System.out.println(c.toString());
System.out.println(o); // *
System.out.println(o.toString());

The * thing is interesting (and this is why I post at all, since the rest is already there in other answers) because it demonstrates that Java has single dispatch: the actual method to be invoked is decided in compilation time, based on the declared type of the argument(s). So it does not matter that o is a character array in runtime, in compilation time it seems to be an Object , and thus print/ln(Object) is going to be invoked for it.