location of main method declaration

[R. Warren]

Hi,

In my studies, I notice that the main( ) method can be declared in either a public class or a default-access class.
Is there a Java "convention" or "best practice" used by the Java development community in determining whether the main( ) method should be declared in a public class or not.

What criteria are used to make this decision?

Thank you.
ROW

[Jeff Verdegan]

The convention is for it to be coderanch.

[Jesper de Jong]

The Java Language Specification (the official specification of how Java works) describes in section 12.1.4:

The method main must be declared coderanch, static, and void. It must specify a formal parameter (§8.4.1) whose declared type is array of String.

So, it says the main method must be public.

Some versions of Java also accept it if the main method has default access, but formally, that's wrong. Always make your main method public.

[Campbell Ritchie]

You can declare main methods with any signature or modifiers, but only the main method with the requisite signature will be found by the JVM to start you application.

[Jeff Verdegan]

Guys, I think he was asking about the class containing main(), not main() itself.

[Jesper de Jong]

You're right Jeff. And I agree that the class that contains the main() method should be coderanch, even though Java doesn't require this.