[ibaraku]

Is there a way to call a function that is non-static say

public void printSource()

inside a static function like main

public static void main(String args[])
{
printSource();
}

without changing printSource to static???

[baavgai]

Yep, comments in the code:

// Our class is named Main
public class Main {

	// this is method for instances of Main
	public void printSource() { 
		System.out.println("Static is bad.");
	}
	
	// This is a static or class method
	// in this case, the entry point for a Java program
	// This is the only method that ever needs to be static.
	public static void main (String[] args) {
		// create an instance of the class this static method
		// belongs to
		Main pgm = new Main();
		
		// now use object methods as you like.
		pgm.printSource();
	}
}

Hope this helps.

[ibaraku]

baavgai, on 19 Sep, 2008 - 11:28 AM, said:

Yep, comments in the code:

// Our class is named Main
public class Main {

	// this is method for instances of Main
	public void printSource() { 
		System.out.println("Static is bad.");
	}
	
	// This is a static or class method
	// in this case, the entry point for a Java program
	// This is the only method that ever needs to be static.
	public static void main (String[] args) {
		// create an instance of the class this static method
		// belongs to
		Main pgm = new Main();
		
		// now use object methods as you like.
		pgm.printSource();
	}
}

Hope this helps.

Got it.
Thanks, I appreciate it...

[Programmist]

You were spoon fed the answer, so I hope you left with an understanding of what static means. BTW static methods are not bad. There is a place for them.

[baavgai]

Programmist, on 20 Sep, 2008 - 09:43 AM, said:

You were spoon fed the answer, so I hope ...

If there is a long enough path to an answer, I will happily try to illuminate it's start and hope the student finds their way from there. However, if the path is only a single step, then leading the student on becomes more an exercised of misdirection than illumination. I don't feel such an approach does anyone any good. Alternately, you can explain that single step you must offer exhaustively enough that the experience it not lost. While I prefer the guiding approach, sometimes it's simply not an option.

Programmist, on 20 Sep, 2008 - 09:43 AM, said:

static methods are not bad. There is a place for them.

True. However, if you rarely use statics your programing does not suffer. If you overuse them, it does. For someone learning the language, and more importantly the concepts of OOP, avoiding them is less confusing than not.