In this example, there's one subtle difference - in your first example, isn't determined to be a compile-time constant, so it can't be used as a case in blocks (and wouldn't be inlined into other code); in your second example it, is. So for example: That's valid when is deemed to be a constant expression, but not when it's "just" a static final variable. However, static initializer blocks are usually used when you have more complicated initialization code - such as populating a collection.
