Non-static method error message

Question

why this error message? i'm new to Java.
Non-static method compare(java.lang.object,java.lang.Object) cannot be referenced from a static context at line 54.
Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Calling Method;
private static void selectionSort(Object[] objectArray)
int min, temp;
for (int index = 0; index < objectArray.length-1; index++)
min = index;
int alen = objectArray.length;
for (int scan = index+1; scan < alen; scan++)
(Line 54) NameComparator.compare(objectArray[scan],objectArray[min]);
Invoked Class/Method:
import java.util.Comparator;
public class NameComparator implements Comparator {
private String object, object1, firstCompare, secondCompare;
// Constructors
public NameComparator()
firstCompare = object;
secondCompare = object1;
// Compare method
public int compare(Object object, Object object1)
int result = firstCompare.compareTo(secondCompare);
return result;
}

Answer 1

That message occurs when you attempt to call a regular class method from a static class method, which usually means that you've called a regular method from main(). Remember this is main:
public static void main( String[] args ) { . . . }The static keyword means that main() is part of the class, but not part of objects created from that class. The error message is really saying:
// You're trying to use a method that needs an object of this class type,
// but you don't have an object of this class type.I get this message often enough. It just means that I forgot to create an object, or that I forgot to use it when I called the method.
class SomeThing {
  public static void main( String[] args {
    doWhatever(); // wrong - requires a SomeThing object
    SomeThing st = new SomeThing(); // got a SomeThing now
    doWhatever(); // still wrong - only works for an object
    st.doWhatever(); // finally right!
  } // end main()
  SomeThing() { . . . } // constructor for SomeThings
  doWhatever() { . . . } // method that a SomeThing can perform
} // end of class SomeThing