On one end you have honesty. As advocated by Mark Manson in Models. Going up to a girl, expressing your interest immediately and asking for a number. Straight to the point, no bullshit. This, according to Manson, shows "True confidence".

This short 1 minute clip illustrates this type of approach perfectly.

Here is another, longer clip from the movie Vicky Cristina Barcelona, that shows the style in a subtler and more charismatic way.

On the other end you have what most PUA's advocate. Going up to a girl and asking her about something stupid, or making a stupid comment, just to get a conversation going. Like: What's the clock? And then pivoting from there, turning the question into a conversation. Only when you and the girl have talked for X minutes you ask for her number. This makes it easy for you to save face and is less intimidating for the girl.

This is a good example of this type of approach.

Which is better in your opinion? With the second approach you will probably get a higher response rate on your texts and be labeled less as a creep but as Manson states in his book it's a sort of fake confidence and might end up with you attracting the wrong types of girls.