Why main() method is needed in java main class

I know we can compile and run a java program successfully without a main() method, but why we still need main() method in java's main class?


Every Java application must contain a main method whose signature looks like this:

   public static void main(String[] args)

How the main Method Gets Called

The main method in the Java language is similar to the main function in C and C++. When the Java interpreter executes an application (by being invoked upon the application's controlling class), it starts by calling the class's main method. The main method then calls all the other methods required to run your application.

If you try to invoke the Java interpreter on a class that does not have a main method, the interpreter refuses to compile your program and displays an error message similar to this:

 In class NoMain: void main(String argv[]) is not defined

Arguments to the main Method

As you can see from the following code snippet, the main method accepts a single argument: an array of elements of type String.

   public static void main(String[] args)

This array is the mechanism through which the runtime system passes information to your application. Each String in the array is called a command-line argument. Command-line arguments let users affect the operation of the application without recompiling it. For example, a sorting program might allow the user to specify that the data be sorted in descending order with this command-line argument:

    -descending

for more info

http://journals.ecs.soton.ac.uk/java/tutorial/getStarted/application/main.html


When a program starts running, it has to start execution from somewhere. That somewhere is called main.