Constructor chaining and initialisation order

For new Child() the first time the classes are used:

1. Static initialisers and static fields of the parent, then of the child (once per class, when it is loaded).
2. For the new object: the child constructor first calls super(...) — so the parent's instance field initialisers and instance blocks run, then the parent constructor body.
3. Then the child's instance field initialisers and instance blocks run (in source order), then the child constructor body.

class Parent {
    static { System.out.println("1 parent static"); }
    { System.out.println("3 parent instance block"); }
    Parent() { System.out.println("4 parent constructor"); }
}
class Child extends Parent {
    static { System.out.println("2 child static"); }
    { System.out.println("5 child instance block"); }
    Child() { super(); System.out.println("6 child constructor"); }
}
// new Child(); prints 1..6 in order; a second new Child() prints only 3..6

A practical consequence: never call overridable methods from a constructor. The parent constructor would run the child's override before the child's fields are initialised.