Static Binding and Dynamic Binding

Static Binding In Java :

Static binding is a binding which happens during compilation. It is also called early binding because binding happens before a program actually runs

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Static binding can be demonstrated like in the below picture.

In this picture, ‘a1’ is a reference variable of type Class A pointing to object of class A. ‘a2’ is also reference variable of type class A but pointing to object of Class B.

During compilation, while binding, compiler does not check the type of object to which a particular reference variable is pointing. It just checks the type of reference variable through which a method is called and checks whether there exist a method definition for it in that type.

For example, for “a1.method()” method call in the above picture, compiler checks whether there exist method definition for method() in Class A. Because ‘a1′ is Class A type. Similarly, for “a2.method()” method call, it checks whether there exist method definition for method() in Class A. Because ‘a2′ is also Class A type. It does not check to which object, ‘a1’ and ‘a2’ are pointing. This type of binding is called static binding.

Dynamic Binding In Java :

Dynamic binding is a binding which happens during run time. It is also called late binding because binding happens when program actually is running.

During run time actual objects are used for binding. For example, for “a1.method()” call in the above picture, method() of actual object to which ‘a1’ is pointing will be called. For “a2.method()” call, method() of actual object to which ‘a2’ is pointing will be called. This type of binding is called dynamic binding.

The dynamic binding of above example can be demonstrated like below.