Overloaded method compile error

Question

i have an inner class which has a method myMethod(boolean). the outer class also has a method of the same name (which the inner class's method overloads) myMethod( String, boolean ). if i try to call the outer class's method from the inner class, the compiler complains:
myMethod(boolean) in MethodTest.PrivateMethodClass cannot be applied to (java.lang.String,boolean)
it seems that the compiler doesn't realize that the outer method should be called, and is trying to use the inner one. naturally, if i change the name of the outer method, it works. is this a bug (which it seems like) or some "feature" of java?
here is the testcase code:
public class MethodTest
  public boolean myMethod( String s, boolean flag )
    System.out.println( s );
    return flag;
  private class PrivateMethodClass
    boolean value;
    public PrivateMethodClass()
      value = myMethod( false );
    public boolean myMethod( boolean flag )
      return myMethod( new String( "Inner myMethod" ), flag );
}

Answer 1

In particular, Java code can directly use all methods
of all current instances. Class scoping does not
influence overloading
The above does not apply since you are not overloading.
JLS Section 8.5 defines a member class declaration and refers to 6.3 for the scope. Section 8.1.5 says that if you use the same name in an inner class, the name is shadowed. 6.3.1 defines shadow-ing. Section 15.12.1 defines compile-time resolution of methods.
From these sections, it seems to me that your inner class method is shadowing the outer class method. Shadowing is different from hiding, overriding, or overloading. The compiler is not going to look for a method with a different number of parameters because you are not overloading. The compiler finds the myMethod in the inner class because the name matches.
A simple example of shadowing. Your code has the same issues with the added complexities of using an inner class and shadowing a method instead of a variable. public class Test  {
     String v = "hello";
     public static void main (String[] args) throws Exception {
          Test t = new Test();
          t.myMethod();
          System.out.println(t.v);
     public char myMethod() {
          int v;
          v = 5;
          return v.charAt(0); //compile time error int can't be dereferenced