Why are interfaces static?

Question

Why can I not have a interface inside of a inner class? Why are they inherently static? Sorry if it\'s a stupid question, I\'ve tried my best to google this aga

Answer 1

Why can I not have a interface inside of a inner class?

Because interfaces are implicitly static: JLS §8.5.1:

A member interface is implicitly static (§9.1.1). It is permitted for the declaration of a member interface to redundantly specify the static modifier.

and you can't have non-final statics in an inner class.

Why are they implicitly static?

Because that's the way they designed it.

why cannot I declare these in inner classes/local classes?

Because they're implicitly static.

the reason we can have static final variables in a interface is because they do not specify the state or any of that sort of the implementation right?

Right.

If we lose static and use just a final, we need a instance

Right.

which makes no sense cause you can't instantiate a interface.

Yes you can. You can instantiate a class which implements the interface, or you can instantiate a method-local anonymous implementation of it. The real issue here is multiple inheritance of interfaces.