What is the difference between static and nonstatic member with example in java?

Answer 1

It depends on whether the member is a static variable or a static method of the class.

A non-static member variable is an instance variable. That is, each instance of the class has its own independent set of instance variables.

A static member variable is not associated with any one instance of the class, and exists even when there are no instances of the class. As with all static variables, it exists for the entire duration of the program.

A non-static member method is an instance method, thus the method automatically inherits a this pointer.

A static member method does not inherit a this pointer, but it does have private access to to the class. Thus specific instances can be passed to a static method if necessary.

Static members can be thought of as being common to all instances of a class, rather than a specific instance, even though no instances are actually required in order to make use of them.

Answer 2

In the case of a non-static member - the most common case - each object has its own copy of the specified variable. When a member is declared as static, there is only one copy of the variable, no matter how many objects there are. Example in Java:

int a; //non-static

static int b; //static