Is there a way to make sure classes implementing an Interface implement static methods?

Question

First of all, I read erickson\'s useful reply to \"Why can’t I define a static method in a Java interface?\". This question is not about the \"why\" but about the \"how then

Answer 1

@Sebastien: Why is there no interest for both classes to share the exact same static method name? Using reflection this might be the only way to make sure the method exists. I would like getDescription() to return the description of the class. Why should it change on different instances? That's why I'd like this method to be static and yet enforce in an Interface-like way that it is implemented. – Tobias Kienzler 3

As i already said declaring the method static means you can call it directly from the class and don't need a class instance. Since it has no sense to call I.staticMethod() (as already explained), you just can call A.staticMethod1() and B.staticMethod2(), their name doesn't matter at all since you call them from the A or B class, known at compile time!

If you want a getDescription to return the same description no matter the instance of ParametricFunction concerned, just make the ParametricFunction an abstract class and implement the static methods directly in this class. Then you'll be able to call A, I or B.getDescription(); (even a,i or b...). But it remains the same than implementing it in A and B and calling it threw A or B...

Calling a static method from an instance is not a good practice and has no interest, so you should call A.meth(), or B.meth() and not a.meth() or b.meth()

Because I wanted A and B to implement that staticMethod for sure and make sure someone else using the Interface for a new class will do so, too. – Tobias Kienzler 5 hours ago

Actually "someone else" will normaly not call a.meth() or b.meth() thus if he makes a class C and want to call the C.meth() he'll never be able to do that because C.meth() is not implemented or not static... so he will do it, or the C.meth() would never been called and then it is also non sense to force developpers to implement static functions that would never be used...

I don't know what i can add...