Question

Say, I have a reference to a Class object with SomeType having a static method. Is there a way to call that method w/o instantiating SomeType first? Preferably not escaping strong typing.

EDIT: OK, I’ve screwed up.

interface Int{
    void someMethod();
}

class ImplOne implements Int{
    public void someMethod() {
        // do something
    }
}

Class<? extends Int> getInt(){
    return ImplOne.class;
}

In this case someMethod() can’t be static anyways.

Answer 1

A static method, by definition, is called on a class and not on an instance of that class.

So if you use:

SomeClass.someStaticMethod()

you are instantiating nothing (leave aside the class loading and instantiation of the SomeClass class itself, which the JVM handles and is way out of your scope).

This is opposed to a regular method called on an object, which has already been instantiated:

SomeObject o = someObject; // had to be instantiated *somewhere*
o.someMethod();