Should I use static import?

How important it is to convert all my import 开发者_StackOverflow社区to static import? Why are people still reluctant to use static import?

As the docs say, use it sparingly. Look there for the justifications.

This is a special case but also the perfect use case (and I use it in all my tests):

import static junit.framework.Assert.*;

Here, I find that this makes my tests more readable and it's obvious from where assertXXX come from. But this is an exception. In other situations, I find that static import make things more obscure, harder to read and I don't really use them.

I use static import when working with JUnit's assert (import static org.junit.Assert.*;) and also when I have an enum that is very tied to the class in question.

For example:

Enum file:

public enum MyEnum {
   A, B, C;
}

Class file:

import static MyEnum.*;

public class MyClass {
  MyEnum e;

  public setE(MyEnum newE) {
    if ( newE == A ) {
       // some verification
    }
    e = newE;
  }
}

Note how I was able to do newE == A, instead of newE == MyEnum.A. Comes in handy if you do a lot of these throughout the code.

I would say, never use wildcard static imports.

Without wildcarding, on the as needed basis, I think it does reduce the clutter.

I use a static import only in the most glaringly obvious situations. Remember: concise code is not always the same thing as readable code.

Use of static import is preferred if you are using an IDE.

It's not at all important to convert existing working code, in fact it's just a needless cost and risk.

You can consider using it for new code, if you can find a compelling use for it. I haven't yet, but I may ...