[Python-Dev] Making staticmethod objects callable? (original) (raw)

Nicolas Fleury nidoizo at yahoo.com
Thu Mar 2 07:55:03 CET 2006

Guido van Rossum wrote:

In which context did you find a need for defining a static method and calling it inside the class definition? I'm guessing that what you're playing dubious scoping games.

I'm not. I almost never use staticmethod actually. I find them not very pythonic, in my humble own definition of pythonic.

But since staticmethod is a standard built-in, I considered valid the question of a programmer relatively new to Python (but obviously appreciating its dynamic nature) wondering why calling a static method inside a class definition doesn't work. A use case is not hard to imagine, especially a private static method called only to build a class attribute.

I don't know the philosophy behind making staticmethod a built-in (instead of a function in a module only used in specific occasions), but my guess was that what is normal scoping/regrouping in Java/C++/C# was worth common use support in Python. But your comment about "dubious scoping games" makes me think I, again, didn't guess right;)

So yes, I'm proposing something I'll probably never use, but I think would make Python more "welcoming".

Regards, Nicolas

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