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Problem
What is a static method?
How do static methods differ from instance methods?
Why use static methods?
What are some examples of static methods?
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Solution
A static method is a method associated with a class, rather than an object.
Static methods cannot directly access the instance variables within a class, typically
all data used by a static method is passed in as a parameter. Static methods also cannot call
instance methods directly. Static methods do not require a class to be instantiated to use them.
Static methods cannot use the this keyword.
Static methods are used when a method does not need to refer to an object's state(ie an instance),
and are typically used for generic calculations. If an instance method were used, you would have to create
a useless object in order to perform this work. Static methods are also used to access static data within a
class, such as the number of times an object has been instantiated. Finally, static methods are somewhat more
efficient since you are not creating unneccessary objects, and the compiler does not need to pass an implicit
object parameter to the method.
Examples of static methods include main and several utility methods from the Math class.
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Code
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