Variables or methods that are accessible to all classes. Can be directly accessed without need of instantiating an object.
Pertinance
If they are local variables, then their value persists even when their execution leaves their scope.
Privacy
There can only be one static variable per file. You do not get variable name conflicts (Static Name Collision Avoidance)
Other Meanings
The static keyword can also take on different meanings
- Internal linkage. There is only one static variable for all classes. This can be used for a counter of the # of objects