Java Basics

Commentary: Why start with static methods?

Simplicity is the reason. Methods are a common stumbling block for students, so the introduction to them should be as simple as possible.

Static methods are common, and are familiar to students in the form of main. They are easier than instance methods because there is no object passed whose fields can be referenced without qualification.

My feeling is that throwing a lot of OOP stuff at them at the same time that they're trying to understand method parameters and linkage is too much. And it isn't like they don't use static methods (Integer.parseInt(), JOptionPane.show..., Math.max(), System.exit(), ...). Since they need to understand what it means to qualify the method with a class name instead of an object, it seems reasonable to do a short intro to static methods.