Netbeans IDE not issuing warnings about methods called in constructors

Question

Netbeans IDE is good at spotting code that could give you trouble. Why is a warning not issued for

public class Base
{
    Base(...)
    {
        ...;
    }

    public void foo()
    {
        ...;
    }
}

public class Child extends Base
{
    Child(...)
    {
        super(...);
        foo();
    }
}

given that I'm calling the base class function foo() in the child constructor? Of course that's perfectly legitimate as the base object is constructed by the point foo() is called, but a foo() is implicitly a virtual method so really I would expect a warning unless foo() is marked final.

I think that the IDE should issue a warning if you call any base class function from a child class constructor that is not marked as final.

Answer 1

It does.
When you open the file in NetBeans, you should see a yellow lightbulb (hint indicator) next to the call to foo. It's a suggestion that you either:

• Make Child final
• Make foo final, private, or static

If you want it to be more obvious, go to Tools > Options, or Edit > Preferences, or Netbeans > Preferences (depends on your OS).
Choose Editor
Choose Hints
Set Language to Java
Expand Initialization
Select Problematic call in the constructor
Change Show as to Error
Click OK

Now the line as well as your file will get a red error badge.

Note, none of this will prevent you from ignoring the indicator. The code is still legal Java, so NB will not prevent you from compiling.