Static Initialization Blocks

Question

As far as I understood the \"static initialization block\" is used to set values of static field if it cannot be done in one line.

But I do not understand why we ne

Answer 1

There are a few actual reasons that it is required to exist:

1. initializing static final members whose initialization might throw an exception
2. initializing static final members with calculated values

People tend to use static {} blocks as a convenient way to initialize things that the class depends on within the runtime as well - such as ensuring that particular class is loaded (e.g., JDBC drivers). That can be done in other ways; however, the two things that I mention above can only be done with a construct like the static {} block.

Answer 2

If your static variables need to be set at runtime then a static {...} block is very helpful.

For example, if you need to set the static member to a value which is stored in a config file or database.

Also useful when you want to add values to a static Map member as you can't add these values in the initial member declaration.