[ruby-core:107268] [Ruby master Feature#18273] Class#subclasses

Issue #18273 has been updated by fxn (Xavier Noria).


More than the existence of a real collection (which is a private implementation detail), it is the existence of a **clear collection API** .

In ancestors, you have API for adding, and no API for removing or updating in-place. So, the programmer can always know what is `Module#ancestors` just by looking at the code.

Ruby has API for subclassing. And you have strong pointer from class to superclass, that is all. That is your you got.

So, the concept of "subclasses" at any given point is fuzzy, because the virtual collection of subclasses is ill-defined.

This cache is therefore using the only tool it has at hand, alive objects and garbage collection. But to me, the resulting semantics are as fuzzy in consequence, for something that shouldn't be, in my opinion.

Look at the docs, you have the happy path using constants. These docs should be more complete, warning the user, and introducing garbage collection in their description. At this point, you (generic you :) may agree the existence of these docs indicates the method should not exist.



----------------------------------------
Feature #18273: Class#subclasses
https://bugs.ruby-lang.org/issues/18273#change-96128

* Author: byroot (Jean Boussier)
* Status: Closed
* Priority: Normal
----------------------------------------
Ref: https://github.com/rails/rails/pull/43481

Something we forgot to mention in [Feature #14394], is either a parameter or another method to only get direct descendants.

Active Support has been offering `Class.subclasses` as:

```ruby
  def subclasses
    descendants.select { |descendant| descendant.superclass == self }
  end
```

It seems a bit silly to grab all descendants and then restrict the list when `Class#descendants` had to do some recursion to get them all in the first place.

### Proposal

We could either implement `Class#subclasses` directly, or accept a parameter in `Class#descendants`, e.g. `descendants(immediate = false)`.

cc @eregon



-- 
https://bugs.ruby-lang.org/

Unsubscribe: <mailto:[e-mail]?subject=unsubscribe>
<http://lists.ruby-lang.org/cgi-bin/mailman/options/ruby-core>