Simon Engledew's Blog

Static methods can be a little confusing if you come to Python from other languages in which they are first class citizens. To create a static method you need to pass an existing method through staticmethod():

class Person:
  people = {}
  def __init__(self, name):
    self.name = name
    Person.people[self.name] = self

  def find_by_name(name):
    return Person.people.get(name)

  find_by_name = staticmethod(find_by_name)

This will do all the hokey Python magic to (I assume) bind the method correctly into the Class’s lookup __dict__.

Thankfully, newer versions of Python — including 2.5.1, the version which ships with Leopard — allow you to use the slightly more aesthetically pleasing decorator shortcut:

class Person:
  people = {}
  def __init__(self, name):
    self.name = name
    Person.people[self.name] = self

  @staticmethod
  def find_by_name(name):
    return Person.people.get(name)