What does it mean when a member of a class is declared static?

• A. It is unique to each instance of the class
• B. It can be accessed without creating an instance of the class
• C. It can only be modified at runtime
• D. It is only accessible within the class

Answer: (B)

When a member of a class is declared static, it signifies that the member belongs to the class itself rather than to any specific instance. This means that it can be accessed directly through the class name without the need to create an object of that class. For example, if you have a static method or static variable, you can call it using the syntax ClassName.methodName() or ClassName.variableName.

This feature is particularly useful for defining utility methods or constants that should be shared across all instances, as they do not require instantiation of the class to be accessed. Additionally, static members are initialized only once at the start of the program, in contrast to instance members which are initialized every time an instance of the class is created.