Static methods

Static methods are methods that belong to a class rather than an instance of the class. They are defined using the @staticmethod decorator and can be called directly on the class itself, without the need to create an object of the class.

Static methods are typically used for utility functions or operations that do not depend on the state of the class or its instances. They are not associated with any specific instance and do not have access to instance attributes or methods.

Let's take an example of a MathUtils class to understand how static methods work:

class MathUtils:
    @staticmethod
    def add(x, y):
        return x + y

    @staticmethod
    def multiply(x, y):
        return x * y

In this code, we define a MathUtils class with two static methods: add and multiply. These methods perform basic mathematical operations and do not depend on any instance-specific data.

To use the static methods, we can call them directly on the class itself, without creating an object of the class:

print(MathUtils.add(5, 3))  # Output: 8
print(MathUtils.multiply(4, 2))  # Output: 8

In this code, we call the add and multiply static methods directly on the MathUtils class, passing the required arguments. We don't need to create an object of the class to use these methods.

Static methods are useful when you have utility functions or operations that are related to a class but do not require access to instance-specific data. They provide a way to organize and encapsulate related functionality within a class.

It's important to note that static methods do not have access to instance attributes or methods, as they are not associated with any specific instance. If you need to access instance-specific data, you should use regular instance methods instead.