Is using too much static bad or good?

Question

I like to use static functions in C++ as a way to categorize them, like C# does.

Console::WriteLine("hello")

Is this good or bad? If the functions are used often I guess it doesn't matter, but if not do they put pressure on memory?

What about static const?

Answer 1

Those who say static functions can be replaced by namespaces are wrong, here is a simple example:

class X
{
   public:
   static void f1 ()
   {
      ...
      f2 ();
   }

   private:
     static void f2 () {}
};

As you can see, public static function f1 calls another static, but private function f2.

This is not just a collection of functions, but a smart collection with its own encapsulated methods. Namespaces would not give us this functionality.

Many people use the "singleton" pattern, just because it is a common practice, but in many cases you need a class with several static methods and just one static data member. In this case there is no need for a singleton at all. Also calling the method instance() is slower than just accessing the static functions/members directly.