Difference between staticmethod and classmethod

Question

What is the difference between a function decorated with @staticmethod and one decorated with @classmethod?

Answer 1

You might want to consider the difference between:

class A:
    def foo():  # no self parameter, no decorator
        pass

and

class B:
    @staticmethod
    def foo():  # no self parameter
        pass

This has changed between python2 and python3:

python2:

>>> A.foo()
TypeError
>>> A().foo()
TypeError
>>> B.foo()
>>> B().foo()

python3:

>>> A.foo()
>>> A().foo()
TypeError
>>> B.foo()
>>> B().foo()

So using @staticmethod for methods only called directly from the class has become optional in python3. If you want to call them from both class and instance, you still need to use the @staticmethod decorator.

The other cases have been well covered by unutbus answer.