Tell me about the rules of method overloading in programming.

In programming, method overloading is the ability to define multiple methods with the same name within the same scope (for example, in a single class), but with different parameter sets.

Main rules of method overloading:

1. Method name: All overloaded methods must have the same name.
2. Parameter list: Must differ either in number of parameters, types of parameters, or order of parameter types.
   • Example 1: void myMethod(int a) and void myMethod(double a) - different types.
   • Example 2: void myMethod(int a, int b) and void myMethod(int a) - different number.
   • Example 3: void myMethod(int a, double b) and void myMethod(double a, int b) - different order of types.
3. Return type: Differing only in return type is not sufficient for overloading. For example, int myMethod(int a) and double myMethod(int a) cannot be overloaded based solely on return type.
4. Access modifiers: Modifiers (public, private, protected) do not affect the ability to overload.

The goal of overloading is to improve code readability and convenience, allowing similar operations on different data types using the same method name. The compiler determines which overloaded method to call based on the types and number of arguments passed during the call.