Difference between staticmethod and classmethod

Question

What is the difference between a function decorated with @staticmethod and one decorated with @classmethod?

Answer 1

@staticmethod just disables the default function as method descriptor. classmethod wraps your function in a container callable that passes a reference to the owning class as first argument:

>>> class C(object):
...  pass
... 
>>> def f():
...  pass
... 
>>> staticmethod(f).__get__(None, C)

>>> classmethod(f).__get__(None, C)
>

As a matter of fact, classmethod has a runtime overhead but makes it possible to access the owning class. Alternatively I recommend using a metaclass and putting the class methods on that metaclass:

>>> class CMeta(type):
...  def foo(cls):
...   print cls
... 
>>> class C(object):
...  __metaclass__ = CMeta
... 
>>> C.foo()