non-static class T cannot be referenced from a static context

[Faber Siagian]

I have created a program like shown below :

class MyGenericClass<T>
{
static T obj; //compiler error

static void m(T obj) //compiler error
{
}

static <T> void m2()
{
}
 }

And the error :

non-static class T cannot be referenced from a static context

Would someone explain to me aboout the error ?

[Raphael Rabadan]

Looks like someone is doing whizlabs :-D

Ok, let's think.
T is a type defined by a instance when you create it. Like Class<Object> c = new Class<Object>();
But using it in a static method, what would be this T if you had no instance? Or if you had two instances? You can't define it because it's defined when you instantiate a class, and you won't do it using static members.

You can only use a generic type created in a method for static methods.

[Sergiy Subota]

Raphael Rabadan wrote:Looks like someone is doing whizlabs :-D

Ok, let's think.
T is a type defined by a instance when you create it. Like Class<Object> c = new Class<Object>();
But using it in a static method, what would be this T if you had no instance? Or if you had two instances? You can't define it because it's defined when you instantiate a class, and you won't do it using static members.

You can only use a generic type created in a method for static methods.

There a special kind of logic in Java, I guess...
c++ gets it just fine - it actually compiles a version of generic class
for every template parameter actually used.
Each class has it's own static variables.

try compiling this test.cpp:

template <typename T> class generic {
    static T someVar;
};

[Bhavesh Saraswat]

well I think generic class converts to a specific type when its object is created with new . Before creating a object it is of no type. so static variables can not use a generic type.