static class methods in Python?

[Neel Krishnaswami]

Gordon McMillan <gmcm at hypernet.com> wrote:
> Greg Wilson asks:
> > Have there been any proposals to add the equivalent of "static"
> > methods (belonging to the class, not to instances) to Python?
> 
> The complaints vastly outnumber the proposals.
> 
> The most common complaint is the lack of C++ style static 
> methods. These are usually greeted with hordes of ugly 
> workarounds. 

This is probably a stupid question, but what /is/ a class method?
I've never programmed in C++ (or Java), so an explanation would 
be appreciated. 


Neel