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Static methods

A static method in Java is just a function (no dispatch) and it has no implicit 'this' parameter. So in Nice you can write a function instead (directly at the package level, not inside a class). For instance instead of Java's 

package java.lang;

abstract class Math
{
  static int max(int x, int y)
  {
    return x > y ? x : y;
  }
  ...
}
You would write in Nice: 
package nice.lang;

int max(int x, int y)
{
  return x > y ? x : y;
}

Static fields

Similarly to static methods, the equivalent of Java's static field is a package variable. Java Code: 

package a;

class Color
{
  static Color[] colors;
  ...
}
Nice code: 
package a;

var Color[] colors;

class Color
{ ... }
One has to be aware that static variables have a great disadvantage: they do no play well with repetitive or concurrent uses of a library. Since libraries are often first written as a standalone program, this problem is often overthought. Later, the static variables have to be replaced with fields of a State object that is passed around. Therefore I think static variables should be seldom used. Now I wonder if language design can help discouraging their use. Should they be disallowed completely? Do some languages try to adress this issue?

-- DanielBonniot - 14 Jun 2002

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