Need help about tutorial demo file

Question

I dont understand the (Object) word in the 15th line of the IteratorDemo class of the tutorial J2SDK
Please find above the source code.
Thank for any help.
//display 13 cards using iterator interface
public class IteratorDemo implements java.util.Iterator {
private String[] cardNames = {
"2", "3", "4", "5", "6", "7", "8", "9",
     "10", "Jack", "Queen", "King", "Ace" };
private int current = 0;
public boolean hasNext() {
if (current == cardNames.length) {
return false;
} else {
return true;
public Object next() {
return (Object)cardNames[current++];     // what (Object) means?
public void remove() {
throw new UnsupportedOperationException();
public static void main(String[] args) {
IteratorDemo i = new IteratorDemo();
while (i.hasNext()) {
System.out.println(i.next());

Answer 1

return (Object)cardNames[current++];
cardNames[...] which is an String Object is changed as if it were an Object by word (Object)
so the type of return value of this function is not an String Object again but become Object
this kind of statements commonly called CASTING