Cloneable/cannot find symbol question

[kprime]

Hi,

I have a question about an error message I'm getting. Here is my code:

class Base implements Cloneable
{
	public void clone(Base base) throws CloneNotSupportedException	
	{
		new Base().clone();	
		clone();
	}
}

public class TestProtected 
{
	public static void main(String[] args)
	{	
		new Base().clone(); // compilation error: symbol not found
	}
}

My question is just that why am I getting a symbol not found rather than clone has protected access in Object error?

When I remove the clone method in Base, then I get the expected protected access error.

Thank you.

[Tolls]

Your clone method takes a Base parameter.
The proper clone() method takes no parameters.

[kprime]

I understand but the clone(Base) is overloading the clone method correct? So my Base class should have two clone methods one that takes Base and the one inherited from Object. Why can't I attempt to call the clone method inherited from Object which takes no parameters?

[Junky]

From the API for Cloneable:

By convention, classes that implement this interface should override Object.clone (which is protected) with a public method