True or False

[Sagar Kumbhar]

Hi,

Static methods has no this reference.

is it true or false??

[Henry Wong]

Well, what happened when you tried it?

Henry

[Sagar Kumbhar]

i think for static method we use class name instead of any perticular instace of class to invoke, so this should be true.
but now i don't have anything to execute and confirm it. thats why i asked.

[Stijn Janssens]

Static methods or variables are never accessible with this since this refers to the instance and statics don't belong to an instance. You access a static member by using the . operator on the class name.

Strangely, it is also possible to use an object reference variable to access a static member but this is more a syntax trick since you're using the object reference variale to access the static and not the object itself.

[Sagar Kumbhar]

but if we hide static method in subclass and try to access it using this.
i think it will give error.
[ September 09, 2008: Message edited by: Sagar Kumbhar ]

[AKINLEYE ADEDAMOLA]

Correction you cannot override a static method it is not just possible.

[Sagar Kumbhar]

yes thats more technical

[AKINLEYE ADEDAMOLA]

Correction you cannot override a static method it is not just possible.

[Bert Bates]

I like Henry's question...

"What happened when you tried it?"

Let's see some sample code! Let's discuss what that code means and how the compiler and / or JVM deals with the code!!!

The most successful candidates write LOTS of code and explore and experiment.

hth,

Bert

[Ankit Garg]

I think this thread is going the wrong way. Static methods can be called with this or any other reference of a class. It's just that you cannot use this inside a static method....

[geet kaur]

i called a static method with a this ...but its showing a compiler error
that non-static varaible this cannot be referenced in static context...but i don't understand this..please explain

[Ankit Garg]

You cannot use this in a static method. You must have called a static method with this in the main method. Here's a code that will compile fine

class A
{
    static void staticMethod()
    {}
    void nonStaticMethod()
    {
        this.staticMethod();    //calling static method with this...
    }
}
class MainClass
{
    public static void main(String[] args)
    {
         new A().nonStaticMethod();
    }
}