Understanding Instance and Class Members
static
keyword to create fields and methods that belong to the class, rather than to an instance of the class.
Class Variables
When a number of objects are created from the same class blueprint, they each have their own distinct copies of instance variables. In the case of theBicycle
class, the instance variables are
cadence
,
gear
, and
speed
. Each
Bicycle
object has its own values for these variables, stored in different memory locations.
Sometimes, you want to have variables that are common to all objects. This is accomplished with the static
modifier. Fields that have the static
modifier in their declaration are called static fields or class variables. They are associated with the class, rather than with any object. Every instance of the class shares a class variable, which is in one fixed location in memory. Any object can change the value of a class variable, but class variables can also be manipulated without creating an instance of the class.
For example, suppose you want to create a number of Bicycle
objects and assign each a serial number, beginning with 1 for the first object. This ID number is unique to each object and is therefore an instance variable. At the same time, you need a field to keep track of how many Bicycle
objects have been created so that you know what ID to assign to the next one. Such a field is not related to any individual object, but to the class as a whole. For this you need a class variable, numberOfBicycles
, as follows:
public class Bicycle{ private int cadence; private int gear; private int speed; // add an instance variable for the object ID private int id; // add a class variable for the number of Bicycle objects instantiated private static int numberOfBicycles = 0; ...... }
Bicycle.numberOfBicycles
Note: You can also refer to static fields with an object reference like
myBike.numberOfBicycles
You can use the Bicycle
constructor to set the id
instance variable and increment the numberOfBicycles
class variable:
public class Bicycle{ private int cadence; private int gear; private int speed; private int id; private static int numberOfBicycles = 0; public Bicycle(int startCadence, int startSpeed, int startGear){ gear = startGear; cadence = startCadence; speed = startSpeed; // increment number of Bicycles and assign ID number id = ++numberOfBicycles; } // new method to return the ID instance variable public int getID() { return id; } ..... }
Class Methods
The Java programming language supports static methods as well as static variables. Static methods, which have thestatic
modifier in their declarations, should be invoked with the class name, without the need for creating an instance of the class, as in
ClassName.methodName(args)
Note: You can also refer to static methods with an object reference like
instanceName.methodName(args)
A common use for static methods is to access static fields. For example, we could add a static method to the Bicycle
class to access the numberOfBicycles
static field:
public static int getNumberOfBicycles() { return numberOfBicycles; }
- Instance methods can access instance variables and instance methods directly.
- Instance methods can access class variables and class methods directly.
- Class methods can access class variables and class methods directly.
- Class methods cannot access instance variables or instance methods directly—they must use an object reference. Also, class methods cannot use the
this
keyword as there is no instance forthis
to refer to.
Constants
Thestatic
modifier, in combination with the
final
modifier, is also used to define constants. The
final
modifier indicates that the value of this field cannot change.
For example, the following variable declaration defines a constant named PI
, whose value is an approximation of pi (the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter):
static final double PI = 3.141592653589793;
Note: If a primitive type or a string is defined as a constant and the value is known at compile time, the compiler replaces the constant name everywhere in the code with its value. This is called a compile-time constant. If the value of the constant in the outside world changes (for example, if it is legislated that pi actually should be 3.975), you will need to recompile any classes that use this constant to get the current value.
The Bicycle
Class
After all the modifications made in this section, the
Bicycle
class is now:
public class Bicycle{ private int cadence; private int gear; private int speed; private int id; private static int numberOfBicycles = 0; public Bicycle(int startCadence, int startSpeed, int startGear){ gear = startGear; cadence = startCadence; speed = startSpeed; id = ++numberOfBicycles; } public int getID() { return id; } public static int getNumberOfBicycles() { return numberOfBicycles; } public int getCadence(){ return cadence; } public void setCadence(int newValue){ cadence = newValue; } public int getGear(){ return gear; } public void setGear(int newValue){ gear = newValue; } public int getSpeed(){ return speed; } public void applyBrake(int decrement){ speed -= decrement; } public void speedUp(int increment){ speed += increment; } }