Complex nested classes in java

Question

I am Testing Program with a number of nested static classes.

public class Q 
{
    static class A {

        static class B{

            static class C{

                static class D{

                    static class E{

                    }
                }
            } 
        }
    }


    class C{

        class D{

            class F{

            }
        }

        static class E{
    }
}

}

But here i cant declare static class E second time .Which shows error "static modifier not allowed here". Whats wrong with me? Don't shout me. I know its a bad practice .But I have the curiosity to know the reason.

This is so scary @user3007882. Looks like a ladder. What do you want to achieve using this? — Qadir Hussain, Jan 11 '14 at 11:43
Don't shout me. I know its a bad practice .But I have the curiosity to know the reason. — RAJIL KV, Jan 11 '14 at 11:44
It is not annoying me: it is a tipical Oracle Exam Certification question — venergiac, Jan 11 '14 at 11:58
possible duplicate of [Why a non-static inner-class cannot have static members (fields and methods)?](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/11684844/why-a-non-static-inner-class-cannot-have-static-members-fields-and-methods) — Bart, Mar 23 '14 at 11:11

score 4 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:07

You can simplify all that code down to just:

class C{

    static class E{
    }
}

So the question becomes why can a static inner class not be created within a non-static inner class.

This is answered here:

Why a non-static inner-class cannot have static members (fields and methods)?

The entire body of a Non-static inner class is Not within a static scope, and therefore you can't have static members in there.

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 11 '14 at 11:48

  class C{

        class D{

            class F{

            }
        }

        static class E{
    }
}

If you take a close look at the nested inner classes above, you are trying to put static nested class within a non-static inner class, which is not permitted in java.

Complex nested classes in java

2 Answers2