Java How to make “Static” variable name to be dynamic

[Vaibhav Singhl]

Suppose I have a class child

public class child{
  public static int age = 1;
}

And I am using class child static variable age in class school

public class school{
 int var_age;
  public school(){     //school constructor
   var_age = child.age;
 }
}

Value in age of child class could be any of these below depending on some logic:

public static int age = 1;
public static int age = 2;

How could i achieve this where should i apply that logic? Also it is mandatory for class school code to remain same.

[Srikkanth Mohansundaram]

Hello Vaibhav,

This honestly doesn't make a lot of sense to me. But it would be great if you can describe more about the problem you are trying to solve. But I've a few points to make

1. Why does a Child have a static field called age ? If each child object has an "age" property, it should be an instance variable.
2. I'm not too sure what you're doing in line 4 of the School class ? you don't need a age property for a school , and that too read from a static field of a Child.
3. Capitalize the first letter of your classes.

Thanks
Srikkanth

[Campbell Ritchie]

The answer about static fields is that you should avoid them as much as possible. As you have been told, there is only one copy of a static field per class, so making age static implies that all children are the same age.

You will occasionally find circumstances where static fields are appropriate, but I am sure this isn't one of them.