need of static constructor

[shukla raghav]

why would we ever need a static constructor. what does it mean by a static constructor ?

static refers to "not associated with specific object" and can be called using class reference rather than object reference. But how does this apply to a constructor

[shukla raghav]

sorry i got constructors are not static...

[Campbell Ritchie]

Never heard of a "static constructor". A constructor has an access modifier (public/private/protected/---) the name of the class and (parameters). You never write static.

[Embla Tingeling]

shukla raghav wrote:why would we ever need a static constructor. what does it mean by a static constructor ?

static refers to "not associated with specific object" and can be called using class reference rather than object reference. But how does this apply to a constructor

The closest you come to a static constructor is a static initializer. It works like a static default constructor would work if it existed.

class Test {
   static int i;

   static { // static initializer
      i=42;
   }

}

[Campbell Ritchie]

It never occurred to me that could mean initialisers. Well caught, uj.

[Muhammad Khojaye]

Also discuss here

[Campbell Ritchie]

Thank you for noticing the old thread.