From: Nobuyoshi Nakada <nobu@...>
Date: 2008-10-06T00:28:19+09:00
Subject: [ruby-core:19129] Re: Autoload and class definition

Hi,

At Sun, 5 Oct 2008 11:27:42 +0900,
Tomas Matousek wrote in [ruby-core:19127]:
> I've found an interesting corner case of autoload behavior, which I think is wrong.

It's not wrong.

> Now, let's do the same using constant auto-loading instead:
> 
> class F
>   autoload(:C, "load_c");
> 
>   class C  # => uninitialized constant F::C (NameError)
>   end
> end
> 
> It seems that autoload repeats the same constant resolution
> semantics that triggered it (otherwise C would be found in M
> and TypeError would be raised), yet it raises error if the
> constant is not found. This seems to be a bug. I would expect
> no exception.

That autoload declares C must be defined in load_c, but it
isn't.  And class definition checks if the class is already
defined, to reopen it.

Your example is same as:

  autoload(:C, "load_c")
  C # => NameError

-- 
Nobu Nakada
c