Question

I am wondering do all the local variables become static if we declare them in a static method ?

for example:

  public static void A(){
        int x [] = {3,2};
        changeX(x);

        for (int i = 0; i< x.length; i++){
             System.out.println(x[i]);   // this will print -1 and 1
        }
  }
  private static void changeX(int[] x){
        x[0] = -1;
        x[1] =  1;
  }

As far as I understand that Java is pass by value always, but why the state of X has changed after we made the changeX call ? Can anyone explain that please ? and can anyone explains how does Java deal with static variables in terms of memory allocation ? and what happen if we pass a static variable to a function as a parameter (I know people won’t normally do that)

Answer 1

The answer to most of your questions is “the same as any other variable.”

Local variables in static methods are just local variables in a static method. They’re not static, and they’re not special in any way.

Static variables are held in memory attached to the corresponding Class objects; any objects referenced by static reference variables just live in the regular heap.

When you pass a static variable to a method as an argument… absolutely nothing interesting happens.

Regarding the scenario in your code:

1. Imagine that you have a toy balloon on a string (the balloon is your array object, and the string is the reference to it declared in A().)
2. Now you tie another string on to the balloon and hand that string to a friend (that’s exactly what happens when you call the changeX() method: the string is the parameter of the method, and it points to the same object.)
3. Next, your friend pulls in the string, takes a black marker and draws a face on the balloon (this is like the changeX() method modifying the array).
4. Then your friend unties his string, leaving just your string attached to the balloon (the method returns, and the local variable in changeX() goes out of scope.)
5. Finally you reel in the string and look at the balloon: of course, you see the face (your A() routine sees the changed array.)

It’s really as simple as that!