interface - Are defaults in JDK 8 a form of multiple inheritance in Java?

Question

A new feature coming in JDK 8 allows you to add to an existing interface while preserving binary compatibility.

The syntax is like

public interface SomeInterface() {
  void existingInterface();
  void newInterface() default SomeClass.defaultImplementation;
}

This way for all existing implementations of SomeInterface when they upgrade to this new version they don't all suddenly have compiles errors around newInterface().

While this is neat, what happens when you are implementing two interfaces which both have added a new defaulted method which you did not implement? Let me explain with an example.

public interface Attendance {
   boolean present() default DefaultAttendance.present;
}

public interface Timeline {
   boolean present() default DefaultTimeline.present;
}

public class TimeTravelingStudent implements Attendance, Timeline {

}

// which code gets called?
new TimeTravelingStudent().present();

Has this been defined as part of JDK 8 yet?

I found the Java gods talking about something similar here http://cs.oswego.edu/pipermail/lambda-lib/2011-February/000068.html, but its part of private mailing list and I cannot ask them directly.

See this for more details on how defaults are going to be used in JDK 8 and extending the Collection interface to support lambdas: https://oracleus.wingateweb.com/published/oracleus2011/sessions/25066/25066_Cho223662.pdf

Answer 1

The answer to the duplicate operation is:

To solve multiple inheritance issue a class implementing two interfaces providing a default implementation for the same method name and signature must provide an implementation of the method. [Full Article]

My answer to your question is: Yes, it is a form of multiple inheritance, because you can inherit behavior from different parents. What's missing is to inherit states, i. e., attributes.