Static nested class in Java, why?

Question

The Sun page you link to has some key differences between the two:

A nested class is a member of its enclosing class. Non-static nested classes (inner classes) have access to other members of the enclosing class, even if they are declared private. Static nested classes do not have access to other members of the enclosing class.
...

Note: A static nested class interacts with the instance members of its outer class (and other classes) just like any other top-level class. In effect, a static nested class is behaviorally a top-level class that has been nested in another top-level class for packaging convenience.

There is no need for LinkedList.Entry to be top-level class as it is only used by LinkedList (there are some other interfaces that also have static nested classes named Entry, such as Map.Entry - same concept). And since it does not need access to LinkedList's members, it makes sense for it to be static - it's a much cleaner approach.

As Jon Skeet points out, I think it is a better idea if you are using a nested class is to start off with it being static, and then decide if it really needs to be non-static based on your usage.

To my mind, the question ought to be the other way round whenever you see an inner class - does it really need to be an inner class, with the extra complexity and the implicit (rather than explicit and clearer, IMO) reference to an instance of the containing class?

Mind you, I'm biased as a C# fan - C# doesn't have the equivalent of inner classes, although it does have nested types. I can't say I've missed inner classes yet :)

There are non-obvious memory retention issues to take into account here. Since a non-static inner class maintains an implicit reference to it's 'outer' class, if an instance of the inner class is strongly referenced, then the outer instance is strongly referenced too. This can lead to some head-scratching when the outer class is not garbage collected, even though it appears that nothing references it.

Static inner class is used in the builder pattern. Static inner class can instantiate it's outer class which has only private constructor. You can not do the same with the inner class as you need to have object of the outer class created prior to accessing the inner class.

class OuterClass {
    private OuterClass(int x) {
        System.out.println("x: " + x);
    }
    
    static class InnerClass {
        public static void test() {
            OuterClass outer = new OuterClass(1);
        }
    }
}

public class Test {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        OuterClass.InnerClass.test();
        // OuterClass outer = new OuterClass(1); // It is not possible to create outer instance from outside.
    }
}

This will output x: 1

static nested class is just like any other outer class, as it doesn't have access to outer class members.

Just for packaging convenience we can club static nested classes into one outer class for readability purpose. Other than this there is no other use case of static nested class.

Example for such kind of usage, you can find in Android R.java (resources) file. Res folder of android contains layouts (containing screen designs), drawable folder (containing images used for project), values folder (which contains string constants), etc..

Sine all the folders are part of Res folder, android tool generates a R.java (resources) file which internally contains lot of static nested classes for each of their inner folders.

Here is the look and feel of R.java file generated in android: Here they are using only for packaging convenience.

/* AUTO-GENERATED FILE.  DO NOT MODIFY.
 *
 * This class was automatically generated by the
 * aapt tool from the resource data it found.  It
 * should not be modified by hand.
 */

package com.techpalle.b17_testthird;

public final class R {
    public static final class drawable {
        public static final int ic_launcher=0x7f020000;
    }
    public static final class layout {
        public static final int activity_main=0x7f030000;
    }
    public static final class menu {
        public static final int main=0x7f070000;
    }
    public static final class string {
        public static final int action_settings=0x7f050001;
        public static final int app_name=0x7f050000;
        public static final int hello_world=0x7f050002;
    }
}

Well, for one thing, non-static inner classes have an extra, hidden field that points to the instance of the outer class. So if the Entry class weren't static, then besides having access that it doesn't need, it would carry around four pointers instead of three.

As a rule, I would say, if you define a class that's basically there to act as a collection of data members, like a "struct" in C, consider making it static.

From http://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/java/javaOO/whentouse.html:

Use a non-static nested class (or inner class) if you require access to an enclosing instance's non-public fields and methods. Use a static nested class if you don't require this access.