Java convention on reference to methods and variables

Question

Section 10.2 of Java conventions recommends using class names instead of objects to use static variables or methods, i.e. MyClass.variable1 or MyClass.met

Answer 1

You are allowed to access static members either by using the class name notation or by accessing using an object. It is not recommended to use the object notation since it can be very confusing.

public class TheClass {
    public static final staticValue = 10;
    public static void staticMethod() {
        System.out.println("Hello from static method");
    }

    public static void main(String ... args) {
        TheClass obj = null;

        // This is valid
        System.out.println(obj.staticValue);
        // And this too
        System.out.println(obj.staticMethod());

        // And this is also valid
        System.out.println(((TheClass)null).staticValue);
        // And this too
        System.out.println(((TheClass)null).staticMethod());

    }
}

It is much clearer if the static methods and variables are called with the class name notation.