Static Methods

Now what exactly are static methods and what is their purpose? Let’s first take a look at a static method Sqrt from the class Math. If we think about how did we use it in the past, we will realize, that we didn’t have to create a separate object in order to use this method. All we did was write Math.Sqrt, in case you skipped that chapter.

So how is that possible?

Some functions are so important, that it would be cumbersome to create an instance and use it that way. And besides all that, a value we’re trying to calculate is not connected to an object anyway. So the answer lies in static methods or functions.

Every method must be declared inside a class. And if we add a keyword static before the name of the function, we will be able to call that function like we can call Sqrt from Math class.

Here’s an example

class MyClass
{
    public static string Message()
    {
        string m = "You've called a static method.";
        return m;
    }
}

And if we want to call this function we’d write

MessageBox.Show(MyClass.Message());