Class Methods

• A class method is typically a method that does not operate on an instance of the class, but that logically makes sense as part of the class (remember there are no stand-alone functions in Java).
  
  
• For instance, the valueOf method in the String class returns the string equivalent of its argument.
  
  
• Like accessing class variables, class methods should be called using the class name rather than an object name:

  String.valueOf(7 + 5)
  

• A class method uses the keyword static in its signature. (What is a class method that we all know and love?!)

• Note: A class method can only call another class method directly (i.e. not using dot-notation).

• Look back at the example code for Type Conversions. What do you notice about the 2 method calls?