Follow Techotopia on Twitter

On-line Guides
All Guides
eBook Store
iOS / Android
Linux for Beginners
Office Productivity
Linux Installation
Linux Security
Linux Utilities
Linux Virtualization
Linux Kernel
System/Network Admin
Programming
Scripting Languages
Development Tools
Web Development
GUI Toolkits/Desktop
Databases
Mail Systems
openSolaris
Eclipse Documentation
Techotopia.com
Virtuatopia.com
Answertopia.com

How To Guides
Virtualization
General System Admin
Linux Security
Linux Filesystems
Web Servers
Graphics & Desktop
PC Hardware
Windows
Problem Solutions
Privacy Policy

  




 

 

Static Methods and Class Method

In a few cases, our class may have methods which depend on only the argument values, or only on class variables. In this case, the self variable isn't terribly useful, since the method doesn't depend on any attributes of the instance. Objects which depend on argument values instead of internal status are called Lightweight or Flyweight objects.

A method which doesn't use the self variable is called a static method. These are defined using a built-in function named staticmethod. Python has a handy syntax, called a decorator, to make it easier to apply the staticmethod function to our method function definition. We'll return to decorators in Chapter 26, Decorators .

Here's the syntax for using the staticmethod decorator.

@staticmethod

def name (args...) : suite

To evaluate a static method function, we simply reference the method of the class: Class . method ().

Example of Static Method. Here's an example of a class which has a static method. We've defined a deck shuffler. It doesn't have any attributes of its own. Instead, it applies it's shuffle algorithm to a Deck object.

class Shuffler( object ):
    @staticmethod
    def shuffle( aDeck ):
        for i in range(len(aDeck)):
            card= aDeck.get( random.randrange(len(aDeck)) )
            aDeck.put( i, card )

d1= Deck()
Shuffler.shuffle( d1 )

Class Method. The notion of a class method is relatively specialized. A class method applies to the class itself, not an instance of the class. A class method is generally used for "introspection" on the structure or definition of the class. It is commonly defined by a superclass so that all subclasses inherit the necessary introspection capability.

Generally, class methods are defined as part of sophisticated, dynamic frameworks. For our gambling examples, however, we do have some potential use for class methods. We might want to provide a base Player class who interacts with a particular Game to make betting decisions. Our superclass for all players can define methods that would be used in a subclass.


 
 
  Published under the terms of the Open Publication License Design by Interspire