static methods

[aewarnick]

Are there any disadvantages to making static methods for classes instead of just public?

[Nerseus]

Not so much disadvantages as just differences. A static method is like a global function. A public method is intended to do some action on a specific instance of a class.

 

So a Car object might have a method named Start() but you wouldn't make it static because you only start a specific car (for example).

 

The DateTime object has a static method IsLeapYear(int year) that returns true or false whether the year is a leap year. It's static because you don't want to have to create a DateTime object just to call that function.

 

Whether your objects have static or just public methods is entirely up to you - it's just whatever makes sense.

 

-Nerseus

[aewarnick]

Static methods are more convenient and eisier to use but I have seen that when I try to create a thread for the method I cannot. Or at least I don't know how. I will post a new post right now about threads.

[Cywizz]

Nerseus...

This brings me to questions that bugged me for a while:

 

How does the garbage collector handle static vars/methods? Looking at memory resources, is it good or bad to use statics?

Any guidelines?

 

Thanks!

[Nerseus]

Again, it's not good or bad to do anything if it's needed. But you probably don't need very many static variables, in general (I've never had the need for more than 2 or 3). Static methods only take up the memory for the compiled instructions of course, just like any other code.

 

I don't remember offhand how the garbage collector treats static variables - I would imagine it treats them like any other chunk of memory.

 

-Nerseus

[aewarnick]

Thank you Nerseus. You were very helpful.