Covariant Method Overriding in Java — The Hidden Feature That Saves You from Casting

Why This Little-Known Java Feature Makes Your Overridden Methods Smarter

Sometimes, knowing a small but powerful Java feature can dramatically improve your code quality. Covariant method overriding is one of those hidden gems.

Introduced in Java 5, covariant return types let you override a method and return a more specific type than the one declared in the superclass.