referencing static methods from class variable

Question

I know it's wired to have such a case but somehow I have it:

class foo
 #static method
 @staticmethod
 def test():
 pass
 # class variable
 c = {'name' : <i want to reference test method here.>}

What's the way to it?

Just for the record:

I believe this should be considered as python worst practices. Using static methods is not really pythoish way if ever...

• Georg Schölly: You should consider using new-style classes if possible.
• Mike Graham: Also, note that staticmethod should not usually be used. Python has normal functions for this application.
• SilentGhost: that's still not syntactically-valid python

Answer 1

class Foo:
 # static method
 @staticmethod
 def test():
 pass
 # class variable
 c = {'name' : test }

Answer 2

The problem is static methods in python are descriptor objects. So in the following code:

class Foo:
 # static method
 @staticmethod
 def test():
 pass
 # class variable
 c = {'name' : test }

Foo.c['name'] is the descriptor object, thus is not callable. You would have to type Foo.c['name'].__get__(None, Foo)() to correctly call test() here. If you're unfamiliar with descriptors in python, have a look at the glossary, and there's plenty of docs on the web. Also, have a look at this thread, which seems to be close to your use-case.

To keep things simple, you could probably create that c class attribute just outside of the class definition:

class Foo(object):
 @staticmethod
 def test():
 pass
Foo.c = {'name': Foo.test}

or, if you feel like it, dive in the documentation of __metaclass__.