Question

A static member function may be called ___________ any instances of its class are defined.

Short answer

Answer: A static member function may be called before any instances of its class are defined.

Step-by-step solution

Understand Static Member Functions

Static member functions are special member functions in C++ that can be called on the class itself, rather than on an instance of the class. They are not associated with any object of the class, and they can only access static data members of the class.

Calling Static Member Functions

Since static member functions are not associated with any object of the class, they can be called even before any instances of the class are defined. This means we can call static member functions without creating an object of the class.

Fill in the Blank

With our understanding of static member functions and when they can be called, we can now fill in the blank for the exercise: A static member function may be called "before" any instances of its class are defined.