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    Expanding on "There's no instance to take a value from" - even if there are instances, the static method can't know which instance to take a value from. Commented Sep 11, 2013 at 18:53
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    This is a lot less complicated to explain in languages that don't force everything to be part of an object by default. Commented Sep 13, 2013 at 0:00
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    @Mason True words. Languages like Java kind of enforce a false notion that a function is something that necessarily belongs to a class. Commented Sep 13, 2013 at 12:29
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    This is a fine answer but it still fails to tell the whole truth: static methods can access non-static data. They just don't have the implicit object or this-reference available. I think that is vitally important to understand. Commented Sep 13, 2013 at 13:38
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    @COMEFROM You mean by explicit passing? I can make a note of it, if I'm understanding you correctly. I assumed it was implied that a static method could access explicitly passed non-static data, given that any function can work on data explicitly passed to it. Commented Sep 13, 2013 at 15:16