Static in java

A class is the blueprint from which individual objects are created. We won’t get anything until we create an object of that class with new and at that point we get space of data storage and handle (method) for this data.
There are two cases which don’t fit in above situation. One we want only one storage of data for every object or even if no object is created. The second situation is that if we want a method that is not associated with any object. Method is directly associated with the class and operate on class data (static) only.
We can achieve both by static keyword. When we say variable or method static that means it is related with class and every instance will access same copy.
If a method is declared static then we can use only static data member inside it. Static method in super class can be overridden by static method in sub-class only. However we can’t override a static method with non-static method. Static method is implicitly final.
It is not recommended to use instance name for accessing static data or method since this gives a feeling that data or method is associated with object and not with the class. But that is not the case.

November 10, 2008 | Filed Under Java