Question

Suppose the classes has code like this:

class C {
    public static void show() {
    }
}

class CTest {
    public static void main (String[] args) {
        C.show();
    }
}

Then will it be perfectly legal to conclude that while referring to class C to access the static method show() here, behind the scene Java is actually calling the show() method through Java reflection ?

I.e. is it actually doing something like this

Class test = Class.forName(C);
test.show();

to call static methods?

If not, then how is it actually calling the static methods without creating objects?

If the above explanation is true, then how we’ll justify the statement that “static members are only associated with classes, not objects” when we’re actually invoking the method through a java.lang.Class object?

Answer 1

1. The JVM doesn’t need to do anything like Class.forName() when calling a static method, because when the class that is calling the method is initialized (or when the method runs the first time, depending on where the static method call is), those other classes are looked up and a reference to the static method code is installed into the pool of data associated with that calling class. But at some point during that initialization, yes, the equivalent of Class.forName() is performed to find the other class.

2. This is a specious semantic argument. You could just as easily say that this reinforces the standard line that a static method is associated with the class rather than any instance of the class.