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javajvmstatic-methodsexecution-time

JAVA: Do Static methods make a considerable inpact on performance during execution?

I have two questions that have been turning around in my head for some time and I hope that some knowledgeable person can answer them for me :)

  1. Is using static methods good/bad for performance during code execution (time)?
  2. How about memory? Do they use more memory than their instance methods counterparts?
Solution

  • Static methods can theoretically perform infinitesimally better than instance methods, because no this pointer needs to be passed to them. However, I would strongly advise against paying any attention at all to this entirely inconsequential factoid, and choose static or instance methods based on what you want to accomplish, not on whether they might be one or two clock cycles faster per invocation.

    The only way in which static methods could be thought of as using less memory than instance methods is the one meager machine word of stack space that they save by not having to be passed the this pointer. Again, this is not worth paying any attention to, for any practical usage scenario.

    So, considerable impact on performance? Not a chance of it.