How to reference a class without using the new keyword

Question

I need to access some information from a class using the getter, but I don't want to use the new keyword because it will erase the information in the class. How can I reference the class without using the new keyword.
ContactInfo c = new ContactInfo(); // problem is here because it erases the info in the class
c.getFirstName();

Answer 1

quedogf94 wrote:
I need to access some information from a class using the getter, but I don't want to use the new keyword because it will erase the information in the class. How can I reference the class without using the new keyword.
ContactInfo c = new ContactInfo(); // problem is here because it erases the info in the class
c.getFirstName();No.
Using new does not erase anything. There's nothing to erase. It's brand new. It creates a new instance, and whatever that constructor puts in there, is there. If you then change the contents of that instance, and you want to see them, you have to have maintained a reference to it somewhere, and access that instance's state through that reference.
As already stated, you seem to be confused between class and instance, at the very least.
Run this. Study the output carefully. Make sure you understand why you see what you do. Then, if you're still confused, try to rephrase your question in a way that makes some sense based on what you've observed.
(And not that accessing a class (static) member through a reference, like foo1.getNumFoos() is syntactically legal, but is bad form, since it looks like you're accessing an instance (non-static) member. I do it here just for demonstration purposes.)
public class Foo {
  private static int numFoos; // class variable
  private int x; // instance varaible
  public Foo(int x) {
    this.x = x;
    numFoos++;
  // class method
  public static int getNumFoos() {
    return numFoos;
  // instance method 
  public int getX() {
    return x;
  public static void main (String[] args) {
    System.out.println ("Foo.numFoos is " + Foo.getNumFoos ());
    System.out.println ();
    Foo foo1 = new Foo(42);
    System.out.println ("Foo.numFoos is " + Foo.getNumFoos ());
    System.out.println ("foo1.numFoos is " + foo1.getNumFoos ());
    System.out.println ("foo1.x is " + foo1.getX ());
    System.out.println ();
    Foo foo2 = new Foo(666);
    System.out.println ("Foo.numFoos is " + Foo.getNumFoos ());
    System.out.println ("foo1.numFoos is " + foo1.getNumFoos ());
    System.out.println ("foo1.x is " + foo1.getX ());
    System.out.println ("foo2.numFoos is " + foo2.getNumFoos ());
    System.out.println ("foo2.x is " + foo2.getX ());
    System.out.println ();
}