Perstistence of Class Static Data Members

[Robert May]

Hi,

Can anybody tell me whether the use of static class data members is
any different than using global variables? i.e. do they remain
persistent in memory for the duration of main() execution? Or are
they destroyed if their are no instances of their associated class?

Cheers,
Rob

 

[Mike Wahler]

Hi,

Can anybody tell me whether the use of static class data members is
any different than using global variables?

Yes, they have different scopes.

i.e. do they remain
persistent in memory for the duration of main() execution?

Yes, they have the same storage duration (static), i.e.
the lifetime of the program invocation.

Or are
they destroyed if their are no instances of their associated class?

No, no instances need exist. The static data is still there.

-Mike