BAEL-4135 - When are static variables initialized? (#9607)

* Hexagonal Architecture in Java

A quick and practical example of Hexagonal Architecture in Java

* Fixed code formatting issues

* When are static variables initialized

Sample class and test class.

* Revert "When are static variables initialized"

This reverts commit c781923093.

* Revert "Revert "When are static variables initialized""

This reverts commit 2bffdf401d.

* New java module for static variable

Created a new core-java-lang-3 module for static variables.

* PR review changes: Added more scenarios to the static variable test

Covered the following cases:
1. Variable initialization in a static block
2. Variable initialization in a static nested class

core-java-modules/core-java-lang-3/pom.xml

@@ -39,4 +39,4 @@
         <assertj.version>3.12.2</assertj.version>
     </properties>
       
-</project>
+</project>

core-java-modules/core-java-lang-3/src/main/java/com/baeldung/staticvariables/StaticVariableDemo.java

@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+package com.baeldung.staticvariables;
+
+public class StaticVariableDemo {
+    public static int i;
+    public static int j = 20;
+    public static int z;
+
+    static {
+        z = 30;
+        a = 40;
+    }
+
+    public static int a = 50;
+
+    public static final int b = 100;
+
+    public StaticVariableDemo() {
+    }
+
+    static class Nested {
+        public static String nestedClassStaticVariable = "test";
+    }
+}

core-java-modules/core-java-lang-3/src/test/java/com/baeldung/staticvariables/StaticVariableUnitTest.java

@@ -0,0 +1,113 @@
+package com.baeldung.staticvariables;
+
+import static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.assertThat;
+
+import java.lang.reflect.Field;
+
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
+
+public class StaticVariableUnitTest {
+
+    @Test
+    public void initializeStaticVariable_checkAssignedValues() {
+
+        try {
+            Class<?> staticVariableDemo = this.getClass()
+                .getClassLoader()
+                .loadClass("com.baeldung.staticvariables.StaticVariableDemo");
+
+            Field field1 = staticVariableDemo.getField("i");
+
+            assertThat(field1.getInt(staticVariableDemo)).isEqualTo(0);
+
+            Field field2 = staticVariableDemo.getField("j");
+
+            assertThat(field2.getInt(staticVariableDemo)).isEqualTo(20);
+
+        } catch (ClassNotFoundException | NoSuchFieldException | SecurityException e) {
+            e.printStackTrace();
+        } catch (IllegalArgumentException e) {
+            e.printStackTrace();
+        } catch (IllegalAccessException e) {
+            e.printStackTrace();
+        }
+
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void initializeStaticVariable_checkStaticBlock() {
+
+        try {
+            Class<?> staticVariableDemo = this.getClass()
+                .getClassLoader()
+                .loadClass("com.baeldung.staticvariables.StaticVariableDemo");
+
+            Field field1 = staticVariableDemo.getField("z");
+
+            assertThat(field1.getInt(staticVariableDemo)).isEqualTo(30);
+
+            Field field2 = staticVariableDemo.getField("a");
+
+            assertThat(field2.getInt(staticVariableDemo)).isEqualTo(50);
+
+        } catch (ClassNotFoundException | NoSuchFieldException | SecurityException e) {
+            e.printStackTrace();
+        } catch (IllegalArgumentException e) {
+            e.printStackTrace();
+        } catch (IllegalAccessException e) {
+            e.printStackTrace();
+        }
+
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void initializeStaticVariable_checkFinalValues() {
+
+        try {
+            Class<?> staticVariableDemo = this.getClass()
+                .getClassLoader()
+                .loadClass("com.baeldung.staticvariables.StaticVariableDemo");
+
+            Field field1 = staticVariableDemo.getField("b");
+
+            assertThat(field1.getInt(staticVariableDemo)).isEqualTo(100);
+
+        } catch (ClassNotFoundException | NoSuchFieldException | SecurityException e) {
+            e.printStackTrace();
+        } catch (IllegalArgumentException e) {
+            e.printStackTrace();
+        } catch (IllegalAccessException e) {
+            e.printStackTrace();
+        }
+
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void initializeStaticVariable_checkInnerClassValues() {
+
+        try {
+            Class<?> staticVariableDemo = this.getClass()
+                .getClassLoader()
+                .loadClass("com.baeldung.staticvariables.StaticVariableDemo");
+
+            Class<?>[] nestedClasses = staticVariableDemo.getClasses();
+
+            for (Class<?> nestedClass : nestedClasses) {
+                if (nestedClass.getName()
+                    .equals("Nested")) {
+
+                    Field field1 = nestedClass.getField("nestedClassStaticVariable");
+                    assertThat(field1.get(nestedClass)).isEqualTo("test");
+                }
+            }
+
+        } catch (ClassNotFoundException | NoSuchFieldException | SecurityException e) {
+            e.printStackTrace();
+        } catch (IllegalArgumentException e) {
+            e.printStackTrace();
+        } catch (IllegalAccessException e) {
+            e.printStackTrace();
+        }
+
+    }
+}