From: "Mauricio Fernández" <batsman.geo@...>
Date: 2004-06-28T08:07:11+09:00
Subject: Re: Is it considered Harmful?

> To safely support this code:
> 
>     a = SomeClass.new
>     a.become( AnotherClass )
[...]
> Is the problem that you want to update all references to the new a?  
> For one, #replace_self raises different issues than #become.  Still, I 
> have a hunch that for most uses of #replace_self there is a way to use 
> of accessor methods instead.

The Object#become in evil.rb does what you call #replace_self (AFAIK
become is the standard name for that). 

evil.rb is meant to be used by those who want to explore the possibilities
offered by those methods. We neither recommend nor discourage its use. You
have to keep in mind that it is potentially unsafe, although we have
tried to make it safe with lots of checks and restrictions. However, maybe
somebody will find a reasonable use for them (especially Object#become),
and those who want to play with this stuff can use evil.rb instead of
wasting matz' time.

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