The idea behind this omission is that static variables are only useful in two situations: when you really should be using a class and when you really should be using a generator.
If you want to attach stateful information to a function, what you need is a class. A trivially simple class, perhaps, but a class nonetheless:
def foo(bar):
static my_bar # doesn't work
if not my_bar:
my_bar = bar
do_stuff(my_bar)
foo(bar)
foo()
# -- becomes ->
class Foo(object):
def __init__(self, bar):
self.bar = bar
def __call__(self):
do_stuff(self.bar)
foo = Foo(bar)
foo()
foo()
If you want your function’s behavior to change each time it’s called, what you need is a generator:
def foo(bar):
static my_bar # doesn't work
if not my_bar:
my_bar = bar
my_bar = my_bar * 3 % 5
return my_bar
foo(bar)
foo()
# -- becomes ->
def foogen(bar):
my_bar = bar
while True:
my_bar = my_bar * 3 % 5
yield my_bar
foo = foogen(bar)
foo.next()
foo.next()
Of course, static variables are useful for quick-and-dirty scripts where you don’t want to deal with the hassle of big structures for little tasks. But there, you don’t really need anything more than global — it may seem a but kludgy, but that’s okay for small, one-off scripts:
def foo():
global bar
do_stuff(bar)
foo()
foo()