Pythonic way to do static local variables?

[Bengt Richter]

On 26 Apr 2005 13:58:23 -0700, "Lonnie Princehouse" <finite.automaton at gmail.com> wrote:

>A quick, hackish way to keep a static variable is to declare it as a
>parameter and give it a default value.  The parameter list is evaluated
>when the function is compiled, not when it is called.   The underscores
>are added as per convention to indicate that the variable is
>special/private.
>
>Example-
>
>def cumulative_sum(arg, __static__ = []):
>    __static__.append(arg)
>    return reduce(lambda a,b: a + b, __static__)
>
>#-------------------
>
>>>> cumulative_sum(1)
>1
>>>> cumulative_sum(1)
>2
>>>> cumulative_sum(1)
>3
>
This default-value hack is what my presets decorator was motivated to replace
(if you are willing to depend to a byte-code-hacking decorator ;-)

Regards,
Bengt Richter