Static Class Members

A static member of a class is member that is not associated with any particular object.
Write the keyword static in the member's declaration.
Static Data Members
- A static member is instantiated only once.
- The static member is common to all objects of that class.
- A static data member can be used to keep track of information about the class.
- Example: A static data member could keep count of the number of class objects currently in existence.
Static Member Functions
- A static member function does not have the hidden first parameter this.
- Static member functions are used when the function's prototype must match exactly a specified prototype.
- Example: The Visit() function in a list traversal.
A data member should be static if it is global to the class.
A member function should be static if it does not invoke any non-static members of the class.
Example - StaticData.cpp
Example - salariedemployee2.h

This page was last modified on Apr 5, 2001

URL: http://people.hsc.edu/faculty-staff/robbk/Coms262/Lectures/StaticMembers.html