— Scott McNealy, Sun Microsystems Chairman, President and ceo

particular method.
 BULLET POINTS
ß
A 
static method should be called using the class
name rather than an object reference variable: 
Math.random()
vs. 
myFoo.go()
ß
A static method can be invoked without any instances 
of the method’s class on the heap.
ß
A static method is good for a utility method that does 
not (and will never) depend on a particular instance 
variable value.
ß
A static method is not associated with a particular 
instance—only the class—so it cannot access any 
instance variable values of its class. It wouldn’t know 
which instance’s values to use.
ß
A static method cannot access a non-static method, 
since non-static methods are usually associated with 
instance variable state.
ß
If you have a class with only static methods, and you 
do not want the class to be instantiated, you can mark 
the constructor private.
ß
A 
static variable is a variable shared by all members 
of a given class. There is only one copy of a static 
variable in a class, rather than one copy per each 
individual instance for instance variables.
ß
A static method can access a static variable.
ß
To make a constant in Java, mark a variable as both 
static and final.
ß
A final static variable must be assigned a value either 
at the time it is declared, or in a static initializer. 
static {
DOG_CODE = 420; 
}
ß
The naming convention for constants (final static 
variables) is to make the name all uppercase.
ß
A final variable value cannot be changed once it has 
been assigned.
ß
Assigning a value to a final instance variable must be 
either at the time it is declared, or in the constructor.
ß
A final method cannot be overridden.
ß
A final class cannot be extended (subclassed).