My background is in Unix C programming, so bear with me...

When I get error messages such as:

  "Cannot make a static reference to the non-static field <xyz>"

I am able to move things around and make the program work. I do have a
rough idea about the issues involved, but I would like to take a
deeper dive into it, and reach a level at which I can predict the
above class of compilation problems before they I introduce them in my
code. Is there any concise, specific explanation around?

-Ramon