What is the difference between an Instance Variable and a Class Variable?

In object-oriented programming, the distinction between an instance variable and a class variable is fundamental to how data is managed and accessed within classes and objects. Here's a detailed explanation of each:

Instance Variables

Instance variables, also known as non-static variables, are defined within a class but outside any method, constructor, or static block. These variables are unique to each instance of a class. This means that each object created from the class has its own copy of the instance variable, and any changes made to the variable in one object do not affect the corresponding variable in other objects. Instance variables represent the state of an object and are typically used to store information that is unique to each instance.

Instance variables are created when an object is instantiated and are destroyed when the object is garbage collected. They can be accessed directly by calling the variable name inside the class, but outside the class, they are accessed through object references[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8].

Class Variables

Class variables, on the other hand, are declared with the static keyword and are shared among all instances of the class. This means there is only one copy of the class variable, regardless of how many objects are created from the class. Any changes made to a class variable are reflected across all instances of the class, as they all share the same variable.

Class variables are initialized when the class is loaded by the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) or when the program starts, and they remain in memory until the program stops. They are typically used to store properties that are common to all objec...