Polymorphism means “Poly mean Multiple” + “Morph means Forms” . It is one feature of Object Oriented Paradigm having ability of taking more than one form.

Generally in Polymorphism we learn method overloading and method overriding. Today we will see more. Lets see the main two types of polymorphism.

  1. Compile time Polymorphism

  2. Run time Polymorphism

Compile time Polymorphism

Run time Polymorphism
In Compile time Polymorphism, call is resolved by the compiler. In Run time Polymorphism, call is not resolved by the compiler.
It is also known as Static binding, Early binding and overloading as well. It is also known as Dynamic binding, Late binding and overriding as well.
Overloading is compile time polymorphism where more than one methods share the same name with different parameters or signature and different return type. Overriding is run time polymorphism having same method with same parameters or signature, but associated in a class & its subclass.
It is achieved by function overloading and operator overloading. It is achieved by virtual functions and pointers.
It provides fast execution because known early at compile time. It provides slow execution as compare to early binding because it is known at runtime.
Compile time polymorphism is less flexible as all things execute at compile time. Run time polymorphism is more flexible as all things execute at run time.