Variables that will survive until the end of the program. They are a middle ground between Local Variables and Global Variables
There are a few uses for them:
- Privacy
- Pertinence
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