Question

I was poking through the Apache Commons java docs when I found this:

WordUtils instances should NOT be constructed in standard programming.

Why?

I am a novice programmer, so perhaps it’s the “standard” bit that is tripping me up…

Answer 1

WordUtils is a static utility class. It provides a bunch of static methods that each performs a useful task, but there is no need to ever create an instance of WordUtils, because the class stores no state.

You can invoke static methods directly upon the class:

WordUtils.doSomething();

There is no need to create an instance:

WordUtils wu =  new WordUtils();
wu.doSomething();

Although this will work, creating the WordUtils object (using new) is pointless.

If all this static stuff makes no sense, try the Java Tutorial on the topic.