Calling static method of an abstract class

[Murgan Sub]

Can you call a static method of an abstract class?
Please Explain..
Kindly look at the code below..
public abstract class AbstractStatic {
public static void main(String[] argv) {

System.out.println("Hello. The answer is yes.");

AbstractStatic.foo();

}
public static void foo() {
System.out.println("Hello from foo. The answer is still yes.");
}

}

[Valentin Crettaz]

An abstract class cannot be instantiated, but it is a normal class like any other which you can use to perform static (class-related) computations. Since static methods are related to the class and not to an instance of it, you can invoke static methods of abstract classes as your example perfectly demonstrates.

[Brian Lugo]

Yes you can. And, you can also call foo() by making an explicit call since you are in a static method of the same class.
However, you cannot do this:
this.foo();

[Jennifer Wallace]

An interesting question Murugan!
To clarify / Confuse to clarify,
> An abtract class cannot be instantiated
because it is an incomplete class and one cannot provide concrete implementations of the class (ie via new operator)
> An abstract class can be compiled and executed
just like any other class.
Is this justifiable in any sense? Because ur class is incomplete?
> But there are enough checks in the java Compiler which doesn't let you the unwanted,
like ...
>abstract methods cannot be static
So there is no way u can access the 'incomplete' portion of ur class without having an instance of ur class. (which u cannot because ur class is abstract). so basically u cannot access that abstract method until u give it a concrete implementation.

> u cannot access the instance methods of ur class without having an instance of ur class. So u cannot access them from the "main" of an abstract class.
> So the only thing u can do is access the static methods from the 'main' of ur abstract class.
and get it to run also.
Interesting!