Access to static vs. local variables named the same

[Chris Allen]

Consider the following code:

  
public class ThisVariable2 {
 
  // class/member variable declaration of j
  static int j=0;
 
  public ThisVariable2() {
  }
 
  public static void main(String[] args) {
    ThisVariable2 tv2 = new ThisVariable2();
    // local variable declaration of j
    int j=1;
    System.out.println("Calling inside Main with local variable j:" + j);
    System.out.println("Calling inside Main with static variable j:" + tv2.j);
  }
}   

This seems a bit awkward to me in that you need to create an instance of a class just to access the static member variable just because it is named the same as a local variable (not saying you have to, just the way it appears from this example). You don't have to create an instance of the Math class to use the various member variables (i.e. Math.PI) so I must be missing something. Can someone describe a better way to do this?

[Ernest Friedman-Hill]

Hi Chris,

Before I answer, note that this scenario seems extremely unlikely to ever come up in practice; no one who worked on any project I ran would ever be allowed to name a class variable "j"! If you use descriptive names for all variables, the chance that this would ever comes up falls roughly to zero.

But in any case, you don't need to create an object: the Math.PI syntax works fine here, too.

public static void main(String[] args) {
    // local variable declaration of j
    int j=1;
    System.out.println("Calling inside Main with local variable j:" + j);
    System.out.println("Calling inside Main with static variable j:" + ThisVariable2.j);
  }

[Chris Allen]

Ernest,
The intent of the question was not meant to simulate a real world example. I contrived the example to make sure I understood the difference between accessing local variables, static variables, etc while studing for the Programmer exam. In any event, I agree, it is extremely unlikely to encounter in the real world but at least I will be prepared for the exam.