What does the static modifier do for a class field?

[FrankJ777]

I have a question about instatiating a class as static and what that implies. Going through an old project of mine I noticed I did the following:

public static Queue messageBuffer = new Queue();

how does that static instance of the Queue behave compared to one declared without the static modifier? For example:

public Queue messageBuffer = new Queue();

Does it make a difference. I've played with both instances but can't tell the difference, but i want to make sure I know what I"m doing.

Thanks

 

[rootX]

I have a question about instatiating a class as static and what that implies. Going through an old project of mine I noticed I did the following:

public static Queue messageBuffer = new Queue();

how does that static instance of the Queue behave compared to one declared without the static modifier? For example:

public Queue messageBuffer = new Queue();

Does it make a difference. I've played with both instances but can't tell the difference, but i want to make sure I know what I"m doing.

Thanks

Have you modified messageBuffer (both static and other) data (attributes) and checked what happens to data when you create second instance that contains this object?

And, I would also suggest that some kind of output whenever Queue constructor is called (like Console.WriteLine("Queue is created") inside the Queue constructor.).

 

[Teeril]

The static keywords turns the field into a singleton, this also makes it possible to access it without creating the containing class by using Classname.messageBuffer.