While languages like Ruby provide the pertinent information you need, why can't Java provide a decent, useable, toString() method right out of the box?

String boolean float char int long byte short double Furthermore, the println method invokes the toString () method of any objects passed as an argument, so it has the ability to display details of ...

Like a Java interface, the “public” modifier is not required for the methods defined as part of the interface. In fact, these method modifiers are not even allowed in the ActionScript interface.