• Post Reply Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic
programming forums Java Mobile Certification Databases Caching Books Engineering Micro Controllers OS Languages Paradigms IDEs Build Tools Frameworks Application Servers Open Source This Site Careers Other Pie Elite all forums
this forum made possible by our volunteer staff, including ...
Marshals:
  • Campbell Ritchie
  • Jeanne Boyarsky
  • Ron McLeod
  • Paul Clapham
  • Liutauras Vilda
Sheriffs:
  • paul wheaton
  • Rob Spoor
  • Devaka Cooray
Saloon Keepers:
  • Stephan van Hulst
  • Tim Holloway
  • Carey Brown
  • Frits Walraven
  • Tim Moores
Bartenders:
  • Mikalai Zaikin

Inner class and inheriting static members

 
Greenhorn
Posts: 4
Hibernate Eclipse IDE Spring
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Inner classes may not declare static members, but may inherit static members that are not compile-time constants. I do understand that there is no purely static way to access static members of non-static inner class. But what I am not able to understand is why then can that same non-static inner class inherit static members. Can anyone explain this?
 
Rancher
Posts: 1090
14
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator


I do understand that there is no purely static way to access static members of non-static inner class.



Do you mean static and final members? Because non final static members are not allowed. When I think of it, it seems that since static members are class level members and an inner class instance has to be tied to an outer class instance ( unless we are talking of static nested classes ), it makes little/no sense to have a static inner class member unless the value of that member is not allowed to be changed.

Imagine a case of outer instance 1 tied to inner instance 1 that sets the static member to a value ( if it was allowed to change).
Outer instance 2 tied to inner instance 2 -- what should be the value for this static field if it was allowed to change... It would make it so complex, if it was doable.

Not sure if this is the correct reasoning .. will wait for others to provide an apt answer but this reasoning is what I used to convince myself.

However for the other case of inheriting a static member - it is just like static members being visible in the normal, non inner class inheritance case scenario. It is the parent class variable we are talking about. So inner subclasses can inherit them like outer subclasses.
Chan.
 
V Sa
Greenhorn
Posts: 4
Hibernate Eclipse IDE Spring
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Yes, I get the point regarding why static final members can be declared in non-static inner class and not static members.

From your last paragraph I understand that all the instances of the non-static inner class will access the same static member declared in the Super class. Right?

I have further query: Is there a purely static way in which these static members in Super class be accessed? (Didn't find it across the net )
 
Chan Ag
Rancher
Posts: 1090
14
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
I think it is better to wait for some more knowledgeable person to respond to your post. But I tried a few things.



May be you could try all the possible combinations.

I got the following Output for the few cases I tried ( I mean the ones I actually instantiated through main).

methodLocalClassDisplay
5
5
6
6
methodLocalSubClassDisplay
7
7
8
8
outerClassMethod2Display
9
8
9
9
regularInnerClassDisplay
10
10
11
11
regularInnerSubClassDisplay
12
12
13
13

So I believe they must access the same static member-- ain't that the whole point of it being static. It is an outer class' class level field ( one copy for all instances ) after all. May be you would want to try the other types of inner classes and see for yourself. These are just the few cases that I have tried. Let us see what others have to say.

I have further query: Is there a purely static way in which these static members in Super class be accessed? (Didn't find it across the net )



I didn't understand the meaning of purely static. May be cause my knowledge is limited. But shouldn't Outerclass.varName be a static way?





 
V Sa
Greenhorn
Posts: 4
Hibernate Eclipse IDE Spring
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Just to bring it on the top of discussions
 
author
Posts: 23951
142
jQuery Eclipse IDE Firefox Browser VI Editor C++ Chrome Java Linux Windows
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator

V Sa wrote:Inner classes may not declare static members, but may inherit static members that are not compile-time constants. I do understand that there is no purely static way to access static members of non-static inner class. But what I am not able to understand is why then can that same non-static inner class inherit static members. Can anyone explain this?




First of all, keep in mind that "why" questions are generally answered with "because the JLS says so" or with lots of speculation (as the designers of Java are not on these forums). So, don't expect detailed concrete answers. Anyway, to speculate....

In my opinion, I don't see why a subclass (that is also an inner class) shouldn't be able to access static members of its super class. In fact, I will argue that such a restriction would probably break the ability for an inner class to also be a subclass. First, many core classes have static members; with this restriction, doesn't that mean that an inner class will be prevented from subclassing these classes? And second, if subclassing is allowed but access is not, then doesn't that restrict what the subclass can do? After all, an instance of the subclass IS-A superclass, so how can that be possible if it is not allowed to access members of its superclass?

Henry
 
V Sa
Greenhorn
Posts: 4
Hibernate Eclipse IDE Spring
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
That sounds logical, thanks.
 
Greenhorn
Posts: 5
Notepad
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator

V Sa wrote:Inner classes may not declare static members, but may inherit static members that are not compile-time constants. I do understand that there is no purely static way to access static members of non-static inner class. But what I am not able to understand is why then can that same non-static inner class inherit static members. Can anyone explain this?



I think static members and methods are bound to the class where those are defined. Thus inheriting such members only means access to the static members of that particular parent. (for example if Parent has a static int i=5; this value is attached to the Parent class. every child, who inherits this, ll have access to the SAME value, or: there are only one static field for all the instances of a class and instances of subclasses. so when one child instance says i++; an instance of parent ll see 6 from it then. unless redefined of course).
In this case, we got inner classes: concept is, those classes are bound tho the outer class, as inner class instances can only exists attached to an outer class instance. wich means no static at all, and these classes also cannot be referred as static, as you said. as i see it, those "inherited" static members simply belongs to the parent class.

V Sa wrote:Is there a purely static way in which these static members in Super class be accessed? (Didn't find it across the net )



As the inner class's inherited static members are the same as those from the parent, you can access them accordingly (ParentClass.staticMember parentClassInstance.staticMember) or with the instance static trick also via inner class member (innerClassInstance.staticMember)

it became a little long sorry, but my point is: static members belong to the parent class, innerclasses cannot have static members, innerclasses can inherit statics but those belong to other classes, therefore no need to access inner's statics

 
World domination requires a hollowed out volcano with good submarine access. Tiny ads are optional.
a bit of art, as a gift, the permaculture playing cards
https://gardener-gift.com
reply
    Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic