Static Methods

tejasbhojak · June 8th, 2009, 03:09 AM

I have one doubt on Static methods
Most common line that i often read about Static methods is

"Remember that you cannot directly refer to any of the instance variables in the class
within a static method. This is because a static method can be executed when no
objects of the class have been created, and therefore no instance variables exist."

i tried accessing instance variable in static method, i thought compiler would not allow that , but i could easily
compile and run the code

Code:

package source.hibernate.utilities;

    public class Practice {
       
        public String name;
        public int age;
       
        public static int getAge(Practice prac)
        {
            return prac.age;
        }
       
    }
/*------------------------------------------------*/
package source.hibernate.utilities;

public class Test
{
   
    public static void main(String argc[])
    {
        Practice prac =new Practice();
       
        prac.age=10;
        System.out.println(Practice.getAge(prac));
       
    }
}

Now in above code both the classes Practice and Test are in same package
i tried printing age which is a non-static member variable of class Practice through
a static method getAge().
i could compile and execute the above code with out any error.

Now this is contradicting my understanding for static methods.
static methods cannot access any instance variable,
but if i think it as a normal non-static method, where i provide it with an reference to an instance and then print the age
using that reference then its perfect!

shouldn't compiler be checking any non static reference made to a static methods at compile time.
And why java allows a static method to be called from object.
I guess my understanding for static methods is still not perfect.

Old Pedant · June 8th, 2009, 04:00 PM

No no no...you have misinterpreted the meaning of that note.

In your code, you are *NOT* accessing an instance variable of the *CLASS* from within that static method. You are accessing an instance variable of the *OBJECT* that was passed in to the function!!!

*THINK* about it: It wouldn't make any difference WHAT object was passed to the static function. If the member you are referencing is valid, the function could get it.

Example:

Code:

public class Practice {
       
    public static int getAge(Zamboni zamb)
    {
        return zamb.age;
    }
}

What you code is NO DIFFERENT than my example!

It's also POINTLESS code.

There's no reason to pass an instance of the SAME CLASS into a static method of that class.

If you are going to do something like that, WHY is the method static in the first place???

A better way to see the error that the reference is talking about would have been to have coded something like this:

Code:

package source.hibernate.utilities;

    public class Practice {
    public String name;
    public int age;
           public static int getAge( ) { return age; }
       }

Try *THAT*.

tejasbhojak · June 9th, 2009, 03:59 AM

Thanx a lot for ur reply :),
i guess, i have not clearly explained my doubt.
I understand that there is no sense to pass Instance of same class to the static method,instead we could write one non-static method .

From what i have read about static methods(which may be insufficient) is , static methods cannot access not static member variables.
So Ideal way of writing a static method should be

static anyStaticMethod(Arguments that does not include References)
{
//code , using all static variables of class, or any primitive values passed
// as arguments
// finally return some thing(if required)
}

(please correct me if am wrong some where)

but if u need to write a method where u have to use references to objects
and modify them which is a normal scenario , then u can do it using a non static method.
i believe this may improve the efficiency of code.
So at compile time itself we should get an error , if there is an non static reference to a static method.
but we don't get such error while we are compiling above code.

and ya, in this code

Code:

package source.hibernate.utilities;

    public class Practice {
    public String name;
    public int age;
           public static int getAge( ) { return age; }
       }

there would be an error , because age is associated to object of class practice
and it would change with every other object that u create, so u need to specify the reference hence return prac.age would work.

Old Pedant · June 9th, 2009, 07:31 PM

You seem to have just said the same thing I said, in different words.

So I really do not understand your "doubt."

The point is, when you code

Code:

       public static int getAge(Practice prac)
       {
            return prac.age;
       }

the member age that you are getting there is *NOT* the CLASS variable named age. It is the OBJECT member that is a member of the REFERENCE "prac" that you passed to the function.

There is nothing illegal at all about getting a member of a referenced instance, no matter where. The fact that your getAge method is static is IRRELEVANT.