Static variable doubt !!!

Question

why the following code throws an error (Illegal start of expression )
public class samp
     public static void main(String [] a)
static int i=10; // error is occuring at this line ....
     System.out.println(i);
}

Answer 1

In C you can have a static variable declared inside a function.
It is static, that is, retains the value between the calls, and it is declared in the function, hence it is seen only from there. In the following example both function have their own static i variables.
#include <stdio.h>
static int i=0;
int foo() {
static int i=100;
     return i++;
int bar() {
static int i=200;
     return i++;
int main() {
int x;
for(x=4;x<8;x++) printf("%d %d\n",x,foo());
for(x=4;x<8;x++) printf("%d %d\n",x,bar());
printf("%d\n",i);
}