— Scott McNealy, Sun Microsystems Chairman, President and ceo

class Player {
static int playerCount = 0;
private String name;
public Player(String n) {
name = n;
playerCount++;
}
}
public class PlayerTestDrive {
public static void main(String[] args) {
System.out.println(Player.playerCount);
Player one = new Player(“Tiger Woods”);
System.out.println(Player.playerCount);
}
}
Static variables are initialized when the class is loaded. If you 
don’t explicitly initialize a static variable (by assigning it a 
value at the time you declare it), it gets a default value, so int 
variables are initialized to zero, which means we didn’t need 
to explicitly say “playerCount = 0”. Declaring, but not initial-
izing, a static variable means the static variable will get the de-
fault value for that variable type, in exactly the same way that 
instance variables are given default values when declared.
All static variables 
in a class are 
initialized 
before 
any object of 
that class can be 
created.
The playerCount is initialized when the class is loaded. 
We explicitly initialized it to 0, but we don’t need 
to since 0 is the default value for ints. Static vari-
ables get default values just like instance variables.
Default values for declared but uninitialized 
static and instance variables are the same:
primitive integers (long, short, etc.): 0
primitive floating points (float, double): 0.0
boolean: false
object references: null
File Edit Window Help What?
% java PlayerTestDrive
0
1
before any instances are made
after an object is created
Access a static variable just like a static 
method—with the class name.

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