why static methods?

[Christian Tanzer]

> What is the purpose of static methods? I do not understand the
> difference with a function outside the class. Can somebody point me to
> an example? The documentation[0:3] only describes behaviour, no purpose.

The difference becomes obvious once you start using classes as
first-class (sorry for the pun) citizens. If you use a class as
parameter or instance variable, a static function is accessible
through the class. A global function would not be.

-- 
Christian Tanzer                                         tanzer at swing.co.at
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