When are static fields initialized in Java?

Question

In this basic implementation of Singleton, when is the new Singleton1() call actually occuring (marked with * ?

public final class Singleton1 {

    private Singleton1() { }

    private static Singleton1 instance = new Singleton1(); // (*) When does this happen?
                                                           //     Before calling getInstance() from the client?

    public static Singleton1 getInstance() {
        return instance;
    }
}

Answer 1

Static fields are populated when the class is first loaded by the JVM (See JLS 12.4 ). So yes, instance will be populated before getInstance() can be called.