Python Basics: An In-Depth Look at Static Methods and Class Methods in Python

Python is an object-oriented programming language, and one of its main features is that it allows defining class-level methods that can operate on the class itself, rather than an instance of the class. These methods are known as “static methods” and “class methods”. While both static methods and class methods can be called on the class rather than on an instance, they are different in the way they are declared, and how they are passed arguments. In this article, we will take a deep dive into static methods and class methods in Python, exploring what they are, how they are similar, and how they are different, along with Python code examples for better understanding.

Static Methods

Static methods are methods that are defined within a class, but are not tied to an instance of the class. They don’t need access to the class or its instances, and thus, don’t receive the instance as an argument (self) when they are called. A static method can be called either on the class itself, or on an instance of the class. In both cases, the result will be the same, as static methods don’t access the instance’s properties or methods.

To define a static method in Python, we use the “@staticmethod” decorator before the method definition. The syntax for defining a static…