Which statement is true about a static nested class?

Concept

A nested class marked static is a member of the enclosing class, not of any enclosing instance. Unlike a non-static (inner) class — which implicitly holds a reference to the enclosing object it was created from — a static nested class has no such reference. Only static context (static methods, static blocks, and static nested classes) can access other static members directly; reaching an instance (non-static) field or method from that context requires an explicit object reference, exactly as a static method cannot touch instance members directly.

Application

1. Take an Outer class with an instance field, say int value, and a static nested class Outer.Nested.

2. Outer.Nested is created independently of any Outer object — new Outer.Nested() compiles with no enclosing instance in scope, unlike a non-static inner class which needs outerRef.new Inner().

3. Because no enclosing instance exists inside Nested, code inside it that reads value directly (the instance field) fails to compile — the compiler has nothing to resolve value against.

4. Accessing it is only possible by taking an explicit Outer reference as a parameter or field inside Nested and reading ref.value through it — confirming the nested class cannot reach non-static members on its own.

Cross-check

This matches the general static-context rule: a static method of Outer also cannot touch value without an explicit Outer object, for the same reason — no implicit enclosing-instance reference exists in a static context. A non-static inner class behaves oppositely, holding that reference automatically.

Why the other statements don't hold

• Needing an enclosing-instance reference to instantiate describes a non-static inner class, not a static nested class — a static nested class is instantiated independently of any outer object.

• A static nested class is free to declare non-static fields and methods of its own; only its own instances don't carry a link to the enclosing object — the class is not forced to be all-static internally.

• Nesting and inheritance are independent features in Java — being declared inside another class carries no extends relationship to it.