In laymans terms, what does 'static' mean in Java? [duplicate]

Question

static means that the variable or method marked as such is available at the class level. In other words, you don't need to create an instance of the class to access it.

public class Foo {
    public static void doStuff(){
        // does stuff
    }
}

So, instead of creating an instance of Foo and then calling doStuff like this:

Foo f = new Foo();
f.doStuff();

You just call the method directly against the class, like so:

Foo.doStuff();

In very laymen terms the class is a mold and the object is the copy made with that mold. Static belong to the mold and can be accessed directly without making any copies, hence the example above

The static keyword can be used in several different ways in Java and in almost all cases it is a modifier which means the thing it is modifying is usable without an enclosing object instance.

Java is an object oriented language and by default most code that you write requires an instance of the object to be used.

public class SomeObject {
    public int someField;
    public void someMethod() { };
    public Class SomeInnerClass { };
}

In order to use someField, someMethod, or SomeInnerClass I have to first create an instance of SomeObject.

public class SomeOtherObject {
    public void doSomeStuff() {
        SomeObject anInstance = new SomeObject();
        anInstance.someField = 7;
        anInstance.someMethod();
        //Non-static inner classes are usually not created outside of the
        //class instance so you don't normally see this syntax
        SomeInnerClass blah = anInstance.new SomeInnerClass();
    }
}

If I declare those things static then they do not require an enclosing instance.

public class SomeObjectWithStaticStuff {
    public static int someField;
    public static void someMethod() { };
    public static Class SomeInnerClass { };
}

public class SomeOtherObject {
    public void doSomeStuff() {
        SomeObjectWithStaticStuff.someField = 7;
        SomeObjectWithStaticStuff.someMethod();
        SomeObjectWithStaticStuff.SomeInnerClass blah = new SomeObjectWithStaticStuff.SomeInnerClass();
        //Or you can also do this if your imports are correct
        SomeInnerClass blah2 = new SomeInnerClass();
    }
}

Declaring something static has several implications.

First, there can only ever one value of a static field throughout your entire application.

public class SomeOtherObject {
    public void doSomeStuff() {
        //Two objects, two different values
        SomeObject instanceOne = new SomeObject();
        SomeObject instanceTwo = new SomeObject();
        instanceOne.someField = 7;
        instanceTwo.someField = 10;
        //Static object, only ever one value
        SomeObjectWithStaticStuff.someField = 7;
        SomeObjectWithStaticStuff.someField = 10; //Redefines the above set
    }
}

The second issue is that static methods and inner classes cannot access fields in the enclosing object (since there isn't one).

public class SomeObjectWithStaticStuff {
    private int nonStaticField;
    private void nonStaticMethod() { };

    public static void someStaticMethod() {
        nonStaticField = 7; //Not allowed
        this.nonStaticField = 7; //Not allowed, can never use *this* in static
        nonStaticMethod(); //Not allowed
        super.someSuperMethod(); //Not allowed, can never use *super* in static
    }

    public static class SomeStaticInnerClass {

        public void doStuff() {
            someStaticField = 7; //Not allowed
            nonStaticMethod(); //Not allowed
            someStaticMethod(); //This is ok
        }

    }
}

The static keyword can also be applied to inner interfaces, annotations, and enums.

public class SomeObject {
    public static interface SomeInterface { };
    public static @interface SomeAnnotation { };
    public static enum SomeEnum { };
}

In all of these cases the keyword is redundant and has no effect. Interfaces, annotations, and enums are static by default because they never have a relationship to an inner class.

This just describes what they keyword does. It does not describe whether the use of the keyword is a bad idea or not. That can be covered in more detail in other questions such as Is using a lot of static methods a bad thing?

There are also a few less common uses of the keyword static. There are static imports which allow you to use static types (including interfaces, annotations, and enums not redundantly marked static) unqualified.

//SomeStaticThing.java
public class SomeStaticThing {
    public static int StaticCounterOne = 0;
}

//SomeOtherStaticThing.java
public class SomeOtherStaticThing {
    public static int StaticCounterTwo = 0;
}

//SomeOtherClass.java
import static some.package.SomeStaticThing.*;
import some.package.SomeOtherStaticThing.*;

public class SomeOtherClass {
    public void doStuff() {
        StaticCounterOne++; //Ok
        StaticCounterTwo++; //Not ok
        SomeOtherStaticThing.StaticCounterTwo++; //Ok
    }
}

Lastly, there are static initializers which are blocks of code that are run when the class is first loaded (which is usually just before a class is instantiated for the first time in an application) and (like static methods) cannot access non-static fields or methods.

public class SomeObject {

    private static int x;

    static {
        x = 7;
    }
}

Another great example of when static attributes and operations are used when you want to apply the Singleton design pattern. In a nutshell, the Singleton design pattern ensures that one and only one object of a particular class is ever constructeed during the lifetime of your system. to ensure that only one object is ever constructed, typical implemenations of the Singleton pattern keep an internal static reference to the single allowed object instance, and access to that instance is controlled using a static operation

In addition to what @inkedmn has pointed out, a static member is at the class level. Therefore, the said member is loaded into memory by the JVM once for that class (when the class is loaded). That is, there aren't n instances of a static member loaded for n instances of the class to which it belongs.