Static methods can't be overriden, so it really doesn't make sense to declare a static method as abstract, as there is no way to define it by subclassing.
Henry
Ernest Friedman-Hill
,
author and iconoclast
staff
Well, in short, because in Java, abstract method implementations are looked up at runtime by checking the exact type of the object the method is called on. Since static methods are called without reference to an object -- i.e., you can call them as ClassName.methodName(), with no object involved -- there would be no way to figure out which implementation you mean. Of course you could work out a system for doing this, but Java's creators wanted the language to stay simple, with relatively few rules for understanding its behavior.
Post by:autobot
Today's lesson is that you can't wear a jetpack AND a cape. I should have read this tiny ad:
a bit of art, as a gift, the permaculture playing cards