Why is main method static?

[vellala sandhya]

can you please explain in java why main method is always static in nature...

[Darryl Burke]

Because the Java Language Specification says it has to be. See http://docs.oracle.com/javase/specs/jls/se8/html/jls-12.html#jls-12.1.4

[Alice Hampton]

Hi try reading that article - looks like it was helpful to a few maybe it can help you too!

Why is main static?

[Campbell Ritchie]

That SO article is helpful.
It is static bceause you want to call it without instantiating the class.
It is public because it is called outside the package.
It is void because there is no need to return anything, unlike the C version which can return the error code

int main (int argc, int **argv)
{
   /* ... */
   return SUCCESS;
}

… where SUCCESS is conventially defined elsewhere as 0.

It would be quite possible for the JVM to call something like that. Because the main method is associated with a class however, you can start different applications if you know the classes with their starting points. Which you couldn't do in C.

[Yegor Bugayenko]

It's a flaw in Java design. Static methods and utility classes should be avoided in object-oriented programming, see this: http://www.yegor256.com/2014/05/05/oop-alternative-to-utility-classes.html Despite all that, Java main(String...) method has to be static. It's just the way it is

[fred rosenberger]

Yegor Bugayenko wrote:It's a flaw in Java design.

a FLAW? That's pretty strong language there for something that at its heart is really just an opinion.