Are static class variables possible?

Question

Is it possible to have static class variables or methods in python? What syntax is required to do this?

Answer 1

It is possible to have static class variables, but probably not worth the effort.

Here's a proof-of-concept written in Python 3 -- if any of the exact details are wrong the code can be tweaked to match just about whatever you mean by a static variable:

---

class Static:
    def __init__(self, value, doc=None):
        self.deleted = False
        self.value = value
        self.__doc__ = doc
    def __get__(self, inst, cls=None):
        if self.deleted:
            raise AttributeError('Attribute not set')
        return self.value
    def __set__(self, inst, value):
        self.deleted = False
        self.value = value
    def __delete__(self, inst):
        self.deleted = True

class StaticType(type):
    def __delattr__(cls, name):
        obj = cls.__dict__.get(name)
        if isinstance(obj, Static):
            obj.__delete__(name)
        else:
            super(StaticType, cls).__delattr__(name)
    def __getattribute__(cls, *args):
        obj = super(StaticType, cls).__getattribute__(*args)
        if isinstance(obj, Static):
            obj = obj.__get__(cls, cls.__class__)
        return obj
    def __setattr__(cls, name, val):
        # check if object already exists
        obj = cls.__dict__.get(name)
        if isinstance(obj, Static):
            obj.__set__(name, val)
        else:
            super(StaticType, cls).__setattr__(name, val)

and in use:

class MyStatic(metaclass=StaticType):
    """
    Testing static vars
    """
    a = Static(9)
    b = Static(12)
    c = 3

class YourStatic(MyStatic):
    d = Static('woo hoo')
    e = Static('doo wop')

and some tests:

ms1 = MyStatic()
ms2 = MyStatic()
ms3 = MyStatic()
assert ms1.a == ms2.a == ms3.a == MyStatic.a
assert ms1.b == ms2.b == ms3.b == MyStatic.b
assert ms1.c == ms2.c == ms3.c == MyStatic.c
ms1.a = 77
assert ms1.a == ms2.a == ms3.a == MyStatic.a
ms2.b = 99
assert ms1.b == ms2.b == ms3.b == MyStatic.b
MyStatic.a = 101
assert ms1.a == ms2.a == ms3.a == MyStatic.a
MyStatic.b = 139
assert ms1.b == ms2.b == ms3.b == MyStatic.b
del MyStatic.b
for inst in (ms1, ms2, ms3):
    try:
        getattr(inst, 'b')
    except AttributeError:
        pass
    else:
        print('AttributeError not raised on %r' % attr)
ms1.c = 13
ms2.c = 17
ms3.c = 19
assert ms1.c == 13
assert ms2.c == 17
assert ms3.c == 19
MyStatic.c = 43
assert ms1.c == 13
assert ms2.c == 17
assert ms3.c == 19

ys1 = YourStatic()
ys2 = YourStatic()
ys3 = YourStatic()
MyStatic.b = 'burgler'
assert ys1.a == ys2.a == ys3.a == YourStatic.a == MyStatic.a
assert ys1.b == ys2.b == ys3.b == YourStatic.b == MyStatic.b
assert ys1.d == ys2.d == ys3.d == YourStatic.d
assert ys1.e == ys2.e == ys3.e == YourStatic.e
ys1.a = 'blah'
assert ys1.a == ys2.a == ys3.a == YourStatic.a == MyStatic.a
ys2.b = 'kelp'
assert ys1.b == ys2.b == ys3.b == YourStatic.b == MyStatic.b
ys1.d = 'fee'
assert ys1.d == ys2.d == ys3.d == YourStatic.d
ys2.e = 'fie'
assert ys1.e == ys2.e == ys3.e == YourStatic.e
MyStatic.a = 'aargh'
assert ys1.a == ys2.a == ys3.a == YourStatic.a == MyStatic.a

Answer 2

@Blair Conrad said static variables declared inside the class definition, but not inside a method are class or "static" variables:

>>> class Test(object):
...     i = 3
...
>>> Test.i
3

There are a few gotcha's here. Carrying on from the example above:

>>> t = Test()
>>> t.i     # static variable accessed via instance
3
>>> t.i = 5 # but if we assign to the instance ...
>>> Test.i  # we have not changed the static variable
3
>>> t.i     # we have overwritten Test.i on t by creating a new attribute t.i
5
>>> Test.i = 6 # to change the static variable we do it by assigning to the class
>>> t.i
5
>>> Test.i
6
>>> u = Test()
>>> u.i
6           # changes to t do not affect new instances of Test

# Namespaces are one honking great idea -- let's do more of those!
>>> Test.__dict__
{'i': 6, ...}
>>> t.__dict__
{'i': 5}
>>> u.__dict__
{}

Notice how the instance variable t.i got out of sync with the "static" class variable when the attribute i was set directly on t. This is because i was re-bound within the t namespace, which is distinct from the Test namespace. If you want to change the value of a "static" variable, you must change it within the scope (or object) where it was originally defined. I put "static" in quotes because Python does not really have static variables in the sense that C++ and Java do.

Although it doesn't say anything specific about static variables or methods, the Python tutorial has some relevant information on classes and class objects.

@Steve Johnson also answered regarding static methods, also documented under "Built-in Functions" in the Python Library Reference.

class Test(object):
    @staticmethod
    def f(arg1, arg2, ...):
        ...

@beid also mentioned classmethod, which is similar to staticmethod. A classmethod's first argument is the class object. Example:

class Test(object):
    i = 3 # class (or static) variable
    @classmethod
    def g(cls, arg):
        # here we can use 'cls' instead of the class name (Test)
        if arg > cls.i:
            cls.i = arg # would the the same as  Test.i = arg1

Answer 3

To avoid any potential confusion, I would like to contrast static variables and immutable objects.

Some primitive object types like integers, floats, strings, and touples are immutable in Python. This means that the object that is referred to by a given name cannot change if it is of one of the aforementioned object types. The name can be reassigned to a different object, but the object itself may not be changed.

Making a variable static takes this a step further by disallowing the variable name to point to any object but that to which it currently points. (Note: this is a general software concept and not specific to Python; please see others' posts for information about implementing statics in Python).

Answer 4

You could also enforce a class to be static using metaclass.

class StaticClassError(Exception):
    pass


class StaticClass:
    __metaclass__ = abc.ABCMeta

    def __new__(cls, *args, **kw):
        raise StaticClassError("%s is a static class and cannot be initiated."
                                % cls)

class MyClass(StaticClass):
    a = 1
    b = 3

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

Then whenever by accident you try to initialize MyClass you'll get an StaticClassError.

Answer 5

In regards to this answer, for a constant static variable, you can use a descriptor. Here's an example:

class ConstantAttribute(object):
    '''You can initialize my value but not change it.'''
    def __init__(self, value):
        self.value = value

    def __get__(self, obj, type=None):
        return self.value

    def __set__(self, obj, val):
        pass


class Demo(object):
    x = ConstantAttribute(10)


class SubDemo(Demo):
    x = 10


demo = Demo()
subdemo = SubDemo()
# should not change
demo.x = 100
# should change
subdemo.x = 100
print "small demo", demo.x
print "small subdemo", subdemo.x
print "big demo", Demo.x
print "big subdemo", SubDemo.x

resulting in ...

small demo 10
small subdemo 100
big demo 10
big subdemo 10

You can always raise an exception if quietly ignoring setting value (pass above) is not your thing. If you're looking for a C++, Java style static class variable:

class StaticAttribute(object):
    def __init__(self, value):
        self.value = value

    def __get__(self, obj, type=None):
        return self.value

    def __set__(self, obj, val):
        self.value = val

Have a look at this answer and the official docs HOWTO for more information about descriptors.

Answer 6

Absolutely Yes, Python by itself don't have any static data member explicitly, but We can have by doing so

class A:
    counter =0
    def callme (self):
        A.counter +=1
    def getcount (self):
        return self.counter  
>>> x=A()
>>> y=A()
>>> print(x.getcount())
>>> print(y.getcount())
>>> x.callme() 
>>> print(x.getcount())
>>> print(y.getcount())

output

0
0
1
1

explanation

here object (x) alone increment the counter variable
from 0 to 1 by not object y. But result it as "static counter"