Is it possible to override a method comment but not the method?

Question

I have methods toSaveString(StringBuilder) and toSaveString() in several classes and thought of turning those into an interface. The first method would always have to be implemented and the second I could default because it basically only calls the first method every time with a new string builder and returns the resulting string. (Not what default is designed for, but bear with me.)

Now I wouldn't need to implement toSaveString() in the classes implementing the interface, but I would like to change its documentation nonetheless to match the class. Is there a way to achieve this without overriding the toSaveString() method in the implementing class? Because adding three lines to call the default method or five to copy the implementation seems redundant and easy to get errors mixed in.

Also feel free to leave comments about design alternatives here, but the question stays because it is interesting in its own right.

Answer 1

1. Look at the javadoc of the ArrayList#removeIf method:

    /** * @throws NullPointerException {@inheritDoc} */ @Override public boolean removeIf(Predicate<? super E> filter) { return removeIf(filter, 0, size); }

2. It overrides its superclass Collection#removeIf method:

    /** * Removes all of the elements of this collection that satisfy the given * predicate. Errors or runtime exceptions thrown during iteration or by * the predicate are relayed to the caller. * * @implSpec * The default implementation traverses all elements of the collection using * its {@link #iterator}. Each matching element is removed using * {@link Iterator#remove()}. If the collection's iterator does not * support removal then an {@code UnsupportedOperationException} will be * thrown on the first matching element. * * @param filter a predicate which returns {@code true} for elements to be * removed * @return {@code true} if any elements were removed * @throws NullPointerException if the specified filter is null * @throws UnsupportedOperationException if elements cannot be removed * from this collection. Implementations may throw this exception if a * matching element cannot be removed or if, in general, removal is not * supported. * @since 1.8 */ default boolean removeIf(Predicate<? super E> filter) { Objects.requireNonNull(filter); boolean removed = false; final Iterator<E> each = iterator(); while (each.hasNext()) { if (filter.test(each.next())) { each.remove(); removed = true; } } return removed; }

3. In your case, you can override only javadoc , and write something like this in the method body:

    /** * custom javadoc */ @Override public boolean customMethod(Object parameter) { return super.customMethod(parameter); }

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^{See also: Can I add code to an inherited method without overriding the whole method?}