What is a Constructor, Constructor Overloading and Copy-Constructor in Java ?

A constructor in Java is a special block of code that is called when an instance of an object is created. It has the same name as the class and is used to set up the initial state of the object, often by initializing the instance variables of the class. Constructors do not have a return type, not even void, and are invoked implicitly by the new keyword when an object is created[1][7][14].

Constructor overloading in Java is the practice of having more than one constructor in a class, each with a different set of parameters. Overloading allows a class to have multiple ways to initialize objects, catering to different scenarios and requirements. The Java compiler differentiates between the constructors based on the number and type of parameters passed during object creation. If no constructor is explicitly defined in a class, Java provides a default constructor with no parameters[1][3][4][12][14].

A copy constructor in Java is a special type of constructor that creates a new object as a copy of an existing object. It is not provided by default in Java, unlike in some other languages like C++. To create a copy constructor, you must define a constructor that takes an object of the same class as a parameter and initializes the new object's fields with the values from the passed object. This is particularly useful when you want to duplicate an object with the same initial state but with the possibility of changing it independently of the original object[2][5][6][8][9].

Copy constructors are used to achieve a deep copy of objects, where the new object has its own copies of the original object's mutable fields, ensuring that changes to the new object do not affect the original one. This is in contrast to a shallow ...