How can I initialise a static Map?

Question

How would you initialise a static Map in Java?

Method one: static initialiser
Method two: instance initialiser (anonymous subclass) or some other m

Answer 1

The anonymous class you're creating works well. However you should be aware that this is an inner class and as such, it'll contain a reference to the surrounding class instance. So you'll find you can't do certain things with it (using XStream for one). You'll get some very strange errors.

Having said that, so long as you're aware then this approach is fine. I use it most of the time for initialising all sorts of collections in a concise fashion.

EDIT: Pointed out correctly in the comments that this is a static class. Obviously I didn't read this closely enough. However my comments do still apply to anonymous inner classes.