[Tutor] Counting objects: method vs. staticmethod vs. classmethod

[boB Stepp]

What I want to do:  Every time I instantiate an object of a particular
class I wish to generate a unique id dependent on a particular
attribute value and the current number of objects created with that
attribute value.  Playing around tonight I have come up with the same
technique expressed slightly differently.  Which is best for what I
want to do?  Is there a better way to do what I want to do?

3.7.5:  import random
3.7.5:  from collections import Counter
3.7.5:  import string
3.7.5:  items = list(string.ascii_uppercase)
3.7.5:  def make_objs(n, items, cls):
...         for i in range(n):
...             obj = cls(random.choice(items))
...
3.7.5:  class A:
...         c = Counter()
...         def count(item):
...             A.c.update([item])
...         def __init__(self, item):
...             A.count(item)
...
3.7.5:  make_objs(1000, items, A)
3.7.5:  A.c
Counter({'U': 49, 'J': 47, 'Q': 47, 'A': 45, 'X': 45, 'Z': 44, 'S':
43, 'D': 42, 'T': 41, 'F': 41, 'O': 41, 'E': 40, 'Y': 38, 'W': 37,
'K': 37, 'H': 37, 'G': 37, 'N': 36, 'M': 35, 'B': 34, 'C': 33, 'R':
33, 'V': 32, 'I': 32, 'L': 29, 'P': 25})
3.7.5:  sum(A.c.values())
1000
3.7.5:  class B:
...         c = Counter()
...         @staticmethod
...         def count(item):
...             B.c.update([item])
...         def __init__(self, item):
...             B.count(item)
...
3.7.5:  make_objs(1000, items, B)
3.7.5:  B.c
Counter({'O': 52, 'X': 51, 'M': 50, 'G': 49, 'A': 49, 'P': 46, 'I':
45, 'H': 43, 'Z': 42, 'J': 42, 'L': 42, 'Q': 42, 'F': 41, 'D': 37,
'E': 37, 'N': 36, 'S': 33, 'C': 32, 'K': 32, 'R': 31, 'U': 31, 'W':
31, 'V': 30, 'T': 26, 'Y': 26, 'B': 24})
3.7.5:  class C:
...         c = Counter()
...         @classmethod
...         def count(cls, item):
...             C.c.update([item])
...         def __init__(self, item):
...             C.count(item)
...
3.7.5:  make_objs(1000, items, C)
3.7.5:  C.c
Counter({'R': 45, 'C': 45, 'Y': 44, 'A': 44, 'B': 44, 'K': 43, 'X':
43, 'E': 43, 'H': 42, 'P': 41, 'S': 41, 'Q': 41, 'L': 38, 'F': 38,
'I': 38, 'M': 37, 'U': 37, 'J': 37, 'O': 36, 'W': 35, 'G': 34, 'T':
34, 'V': 31, 'D': 31, 'Z': 30, 'N': 28})

The final counts are immaterial.  I would use the value of c at the
time of instantiation to generate its id attribute.  The id would be
used for __str__() to generate something like:  "R22 MyObjectName".

-- 
boB