Unusual “static” method declaration

Question

public class Card {

    public enum Rank { DEUCE, THREE, FOUR, FIVE, SIX,
        SEVEN, EIGHT, NINE, TEN, JACK, QUEEN, KING, ACE }

    public enum Suit { CLUBS, D         


        

Answer 1

This is not a method, but a static Initializer block of a class. You can read more about it in the Java Language Specification.

The code within is executed once after loading the class.