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class method (static method)
subject			fact

class method	if a class method is public then it can be used by all objects
	affects the class as a whole, not a particular instance of the class
	can be accessed from any instance of its class or directly from its class
	cannot access directly any instance variable
	cannot be overridden
	has definition A method that, unlike an instance method, does not execute in the context of a particular instance of a class
	has definition A method that is invoked without reference to a particular object
	does not have 'this' value when it is executing
	has purpose implementing functions such as initializing a class, or operating on the complete set of instances of a class
	is part of 1 class
	is a subtopic of Methods
	is called by using the name of the class, followed by a dot, followed by the name of the method (the name of the class can be omitted when calling a class method in the current class)
	is marked as static
	is a kind of class member
	is a kind of method
	operates on 0 or more class variables of its class
	specifies the behaviour of the class
	is a synonym of static method
class member	can be used by every method of the class
method	belongs to a class
	can access all instance variables of all objects of its class
	can be inherited by subclasses of its class
	can be accessed by other methods and variables in any class in the same package by default
	can use the super method to invoke a method declared in the superclass
	cannot be passed as an argument to a method or constructor
	creates an object by instantiating a class
	does not return a value if it has a void return type
	has part method definition
	has part method signature
	has part a block of implementation code
	implements the behaviour of an object or the behaviour of a class
	is equivalent to the terms "function member" or "member function" which are used in C++
	is equivalent to the terms "routine", "function" or "method" which are used in non object-oriented programming languages
	may contain empty return statement if it has a void return type
	may have access modifier public or private or protected
	must contain return statement unless it has a void return type
	must define its parameter list
	must define its return type
	returns a value that is of the return type of the method or a subtype of that type
	should be as private as possible
	should not be public except for those that will definitely need to be called from outside the package
	should return to its caller from only one place which should be the last statement
	usually hides instance variables, class variables from other objects
access unit	has access mode
syntactic unit	has syntax rule bold = mandatory italic = non-terminal normal font = optional

Kinds of class method :

• isDigit (6 facts)
• main method (12 facts) - A method that is initially executed in an application
• parseInt (6 facts)
• synchronized class method (3 facts)
• toHexString (6 facts)

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