Using static methods isn’t noobish, if done correctly. Try again.

If it is in the context of functions, then it is just a prefix for function names. Instead of naming your function “something()”, you would instead prefix your function name with another word to prevent naming collusions.

For example, “myawesomeplugin_something()”. Normal prefixes are companies, abbreviated plugin name, or any number of random names. The goal is make sure that the prefix or namespace is unique enough to prevent having the same name as in WordPress or in another plugin.

In the context of classes, it is arguable, but I look at classes as also a namespace for set of like functions. However, in this context class name is an container for the object methods and likewise, if you have MyPlugin class name and something() method, then the static call would be MyPlugin::something() with the text before the ‘::’ being the namespace. Using this method, you can instead of having ‘myplugin_something()’ can have instead ‘MyPlugin::something()’. However, using objects in this fashion is noobish and isn’t recommended.

Plugin: An extension to the base WordPress functionality. It derives its name from the Plugin API, which is used throughout WordPress to allow these extensions to hook into the default functionality and replace or extend the normal functionality.

Suggestions: Widget, Plugin, Hook, Namespace, Template… Can’t think of any more at the moment.

Anyone else?