Why is it called "method hiding"?

Question

From the docs, "If a subclass defines a static method with the same signature as a static method in the superclass, then the method in the subclass hides the one in the superclass."

I understand the difference between method hiding and overriding. However, it's strange to say that the subclass hides the superclass method because if you have the following:

public class Cat extends Animal {
    public static void testClassMethod() {
        System.out.println("The static method in Cat");
    }
    public void testInstanceMethod() {
        System.out.println("The instance method in Cat");
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        Cat myCat = new Cat();
        Animal myAnimal = myCat;
        Animal.testClassMethod();
        myAnimal.testInstanceMethod();
    }
}

The superclass's static method is called. But by the definition of hiding, the method in the subclass is hiding the one in the superclass. I don't see how the subclass is "covering up/hiding" the superclass static method, as the superclass's method is the one that's actually called.

Answer 1

The superclass's static method is called.

Yes. But that is because you explicitly named the superclass's static method by qualifying with the superclass name in the call statement.

If you had written the main like this instead:

public static void main(String[] args) {
    ...
    testClassMethod();
}

then you would have seen that the Cat version of testClassMethod was called. Here, the Cat.testClassMethod method hides the Animal.testClassMethod method

Answer 2

Cat's testClassMethod() hides Animal.testClassMethod(), since if you didn't have a static testClassMethod() in the Cat class, Cat.testClassMethod() would invoke Animal.testClassMethod().

When you call Animal.testClassMethod(), it's can't be hidden by a sub-class's method.