The following scripts run in ipython demonstrate the differences between instance method and static method. Generally OOP make things complicated for imperative style applications. So when developing this style application (such as command-line application) use functions inside modules, instead of "module - class - method". The Python standard library is a good example that all utility functions are all common functions not wrapped in classes.
In [1]: cat utils.py
class FileUtils:
def __init__(self):
print 'initialize', self
@staticmethod
def static_copy(src, dst):
print 'class copy from', src, 'to', dst
def instance_copy(self, src, dst):
print self, 'copy from', src, 'to', dst
In [2]: import utils
In [3]: myutil = utils.FileUtils()
initialize <utils.FileUtils instance at 0x8ab250c>
In [4]: myutil.instance_copy('aa', 'bb')
<utils.FileUtils instance at 0x8ab250c> copy from aa to bb
In [5]: utils.FileUtils().instance_copy('aa', 'bb')
initialize <utils.FileUtils instance at 0x8ab24ec>
<utils.FileUtils instance at 0x8ab24ec> copy from aa to bb
In [6]: utils.FileUtils.static_copy('aa', 'bb')
class copy from aa to bb
In [7]: utils.FileUtils.instance_copy('aa', 'bb')
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
TypeError Traceback (most recent call last)
<ipython-input-7-cce9f79fc45b> in <module>()
----> 1 utils.FileUtils.instance_copy('aa', 'bb')
TypeError: unbound method instance_copy() must be called with FileUtils instance as first argument (got str instance instead)
In [8]: myutil.static_copy('aa', 'bb')
class copy from aa to bb
Notice the subtle difference between [5] and [6], parenthesis followed the class name is a "instance", while only class name without the following parenthesis is a "class".
Ref: The definitive guide on how to use static, class or abstract methods in Python