When do you use Java's @Override annotation and why?

Answer 1

I think it is most useful as a compile-time reminder that the intention of the method is to override a parent method. As an example:

protected boolean displaySensitiveInformation() {
  return false;
}

You will often see something like the above method that overrides a method in the base class. This is an important implementation detail of this class -- we don't want sensitive information to be displayed.

Suppose this method is changed in the parent class to

protected boolean displaySensitiveInformation(Context context) {
  return true;
}

This change will not cause any compile time errors or warnings - but it completely changes the intended behavior of the subclass.

To answer your question: you should use the @Override annotation if the lack of a method with the same signature in a superclass is indicative of a bug.