public class StaticCounter {
    public static void main (String [] args) {
	System.out.println(CountingObject.howmany + " objects created");

	CountingObject co = new CountingObject(5);
	System.out.println(CountingObject.howmany + " objects created");

	CountingObject co1 = new CountingObject(3);
	System.out.println(co1.howmany + " objects created");

	co1 = co;
	System.out.println(co1.howmany + " objects created");

	// cheating: setting the counter to 5 
	// (can do it, because it's public)
	co.howmany = 5;
	System.out.println(CountingObject.howmany + " objects created");
    }
    
}

class CountingObject {
    public int value;
    public static int howmany; // the counter of the number of objects

    public CountingObject(int val) {
	value = val;
	++howmany;
    }
}