Class vs Instance methods

Feature	Instance Method	Class Method (Static)
Defined with static?	❌ No	✅ Yes
Belongs to	An object (instance)	The class itself
Can access instance variables?	✅ Yes	❌ No (only static variables)
Called using	objectName.method()	ClassName.method()

• If we make the constructors private, we can prevent someone creating new instances

Class methods

• static methods belong to the class, not to any specific object
  • So inside a static method, there is no implicit reference (this) to any instance. That’s why you can’t directly use instance members (fields or methods).
• Use class methods if u need to use a method without creating an instance
• Utility classes
  • Tie functions u use frequently into one class
• add static keyword
  • static
• Examples
  • Math.sqrt()
  • Integer.parseInt()