Welcome to Software Development on Codidact!
Will you help us build our independent community of developers helping developers? We're small and trying to grow. We welcome questions about all aspects of software development, from design to code to QA and more. Got questions? Got answers? Got code you'd like someone to review? Please join us.
Post History
I think I can access the static method without caring of class, isn't it? No. A static method is still a class method, and you still care about the class. The difference is that static methods...
Answer
#2: Post edited
by
Hyperlynx
·
2021-09-20T06:32:22Z (over 3 years ago)
- > I think I can access the static method without caring of class, isn't it?
- No. A static method is still a class method, and you still care about the class. The difference is that static methods aren't used with an *instance* of a class (an object).
- > static method can helps to decrease amount of source code.
I don't see how...- > So Is it better to use static method? Or is there any limit of it?
- Opinions differ. The main thing is that you can't access object members in a static method, only static members.
- For example, you might have a `Car` class, with a `fuel` member and a `drive()` method that makes `fuel` go down. You might also have a `private static int numCars` member, and a static `printNumCars()` method.
- When accessing your static method, you still care about the class. It's still going to be `Car.numCars()`. `numCars()` has no way to access the `fuel` member, and that makes sense (*which* car's fuel would we be talking about?). On the other hand, "how many cars are there" isn't a property of any one specific car at all, it's a property of cars in general, as a whole category.
- That's what static members are for - things that are relevant to the entire class, rather than any individual object.
- > I think I can access the static method without caring of class, isn't it?
- No. A static method is still a class method, and you still care about the class. The difference is that static methods aren't used with an *instance* of a class (an object).
- > static method can helps to decrease amount of source code.
- True. As you pointed out in comment (putting it here too for better visibility): `import static com.classes.Car.numCars();` means that you can simply invoke it as `numCars();`
- > So Is it better to use static method? Or is there any limit of it?
- Opinions differ. The main thing is that you can't access object members in a static method, only static members.
- For example, you might have a `Car` class, with a `fuel` member and a `drive()` method that makes `fuel` go down. You might also have a `private static int numCars` member, and a static `printNumCars()` method.
- When accessing your static method, you still care about the class. It's still going to be `Car.numCars()`. `numCars()` has no way to access the `fuel` member, and that makes sense (*which* car's fuel would we be talking about?). On the other hand, "how many cars are there" isn't a property of any one specific car at all, it's a property of cars in general, as a whole category.
- That's what static members are for - things that are relevant to the entire class, rather than any individual object.
#1: Initial revision
by
Hyperlynx
·
2021-09-19T23:39:09Z (over 3 years ago)
> I think I can access the static method without caring of class, isn't it? No. A static method is still a class method, and you still care about the class. The difference is that static methods aren't used with an *instance* of a class (an object). > static method can helps to decrease amount of source code. I don't see how... > So Is it better to use static method? Or is there any limit of it? Opinions differ. The main thing is that you can't access object members in a static method, only static members. For example, you might have a `Car` class, with a `fuel` member and a `drive()` method that makes `fuel` go down. You might also have a `private static int numCars` member, and a static `printNumCars()` method. When accessing your static method, you still care about the class. It's still going to be `Car.numCars()`. `numCars()` has no way to access the `fuel` member, and that makes sense (*which* car's fuel would we be talking about?). On the other hand, "how many cars are there" isn't a property of any one specific car at all, it's a property of cars in general, as a whole category. That's what static members are for - things that are relevant to the entire class, rather than any individual object.