What does the "static" block in following class does?

Hi,

I have static block as follows in my java class:-

public class SimpleWeb extends Thread {
static {
String image = "image/";
MIME_TYPES.put(".gif", image + "gif");
MIME_TYPES.put(".jpg", image + "jpeg");
MIME_TYPES.put(".jpeg", image + "jpeg");
MIME_TYPES.put(".png", image + "png");
String text = "text/";
MIME_TYPES.put(".html", text + "html");
MIME_TYPES.put(".htm", text + "html");
MIME_TYPES.put(".txt", text + "plain");
}
//other methods in class
}

What does this static block does??

Thanks in advance.

Pras

Hi.

It guarantees that when your class is loaded, the member MIME_TYPES is filled with the values being set. It's just a way to soon initialize the MIME_TYPES member.