Hi
A few days back I was having a conversation with my colleague on the use of static class. At that point I decided to write a post on the issue giving an example on when to use a static class and members.
We use static class when we have to separate data and behavior that will be independent of any object identity. The data and functions do not change regardless of what happens to the object.
A static class can only contain static members. We cannot create an instance of a static class. Static class is always sealed and they cannot contain instance constructor. Hence we can also say that creating a static class is nearly same as creating a class with only static members and a private constructor (private constructor prevents the class from being instantiated).
The advantage of using the static class is that compiler can check that no instance of the class is accidentally added. The complier will not allow any instance class of a static class. We also cannot inherit a static class since it is sealed. Static class do not have constructor, but can still declare static constructor to set up the initial values.
Static class also makes the implementation simpler and faster since we do not have make and instance of the class to call its method. An example of good use of static class would be a class like math, which does all the mathematic function, or a currency converter class to convert currency class for converting the currency.
Hope this helps
Thanks
Vikram