What is method overloading?

Method overloading is the ability in object-oriented programming languages to create multiple methods with the same name but different parameters (types, number, or order). This allows using one name for different variants of a function's behavior.

For example, in Java:

class Calculator {
    int add(int a, int b) {
        return a + b;
    }

    double add(double a, double b) {
        return a + b;
    }

    int add(int a, int b, int c) {
        return a + b + c;
    }
}

The compiler determines which version to use based on the arguments passed during the method call. This simplifies the class interface and improves code readability.

Overloading is different from overriding, where the method's implementation is changed in a subclass with the same signature.