Thread local storage

The storage class static allows declaring objects which are initialized only once. If the same line is executed a second time, the initialization will be omitted. Every thread will get its own static object (TLS - thread local storage) and won't be able to read or modify another thread's static object - although the variable name stays the same. Thus static allows declaring an object that holds state that is global for the current thread.

This is different to e.g. C/C++ and Java where static indeed means global for the application, entailing synchronization issues in multi-threaded applications.

The value assigned to a static variable must be evaluable at compile-time. It mustn't have runtime dependencies! It's possible to initialize static variables at runtime using a static this() one-time constructor for structs, classes, and modules.

static int b = 42;
// b is just intialized once!
// When run from different threads
// each b will have see its
// "own" b without interference from
// other threads.

Moreover for declaration of a "classic" global variable that every thread can see and modify, use the storage class __gshared which is equivalent to C's static. Its ugly name is a friendly reminder to use it rarely.

__gshared int b = 50;
// Also intialized just once!
// A truly global b which every thread
// can read - and making it dangerous -
// modify!

In-depth

rdmd playground.d