Difference between static variable and instance variable?

Question

Jignesh Trivedi · Answer

hi A value assigned to a static variable will be shared across all instances of the class. On the other hand an instance variable may have different values across every different instance of the class. Static variable the field is allocated when the class is created. It belongs to the class and not any object of the class. It is class variable. Instace variable the field is allocated when the class is instanciated to the class is called instance variable or non-static variable also please refer http://www.programmerinterview.com/index.php/c-cplusplus/whats-the-difference-between-a-class-variable-and-an-instance-variable/ http://www.cis.upenn.edu/~matuszek/cit591-2006/Pages/static-vs-instance.html hope this will help you.

Vulpes · Answer

Each instance of a class or struct has its own independent copy of any instance variables declared within it. In contrast there is only a single copy of any static variables declared in a class or struct. So static variables apply to the class or struct as a whole rather than to any particular instance of it. Static variables must be marked with the static modifier. However there is no corresponding modifier for intstance variables. As they don't apply to a particular instance static variables are accessed by prefixing them with the name of the class or struct whereas instance variables are accessed using an object reference.