Reasoning of calling a method on class object instead of class instance object

[Arup Rakshit]

Hi,

In this piece of code:

class RefrigeratedShippingContainer(ShippingContainer):
    MAX_CELSIUS = 4.0

    def __init__(self, owner_code, contents, celsius):
        super().__init__(owner_code, contents)

        if celsius > RefrigeratedShippingContainer.MAX_CELSIUS:
            raise ValueError("Temperature too hot!")
        self._celsius = celsius

    @staticmethod
    def _c_to_f(celsius):
        return celsius * 9/5 + 32

    @staticmethod
    def _f_to_c(fahrenheit):
        return (fahrenheit - 32) * 5/9

    @staticmethod
    def _make_bic_code(owner_code, serial):
        return iso6346.create(owner_code=owner_code,
                              serial=str(serial).zfill(6),
                              category='R')
    @property
    def celsius(self):
        return self._celsius

    @celsius.setter
    def celsius(self, value):
        if value > RefrigeratedShippingContainer.MAX_CELSIUS:
            raise ValueError("Temperature too hot!")
        self._celsius = value

    @property
    def fahrenheit(self):
        return RefrigeratedShippingContainer._c_to_f(self.celsius)

    @fahrenheit.setter
    def fahrenheit(self, value):
        self.celsius = RefrigeratedShippingContainer._f_to_c(value)

If I call `_c_to_f`, `_f_to_c` methods on `self` instead of `RefrigeratedShippingContainer` class object, still it works. So what is the reason behind of this calling on the class object, instead class instance object? 


Thanks,

Arup Rakshit
ar at zeit.io