From: Robert Klemme <bob.news@...>
Date: 2004-07-31T04:36:51+09:00
Subject: Re: Forward references?


"Lloyd Zusman" <ljz@asfast.com> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
news:d62dd0tu.fsf@asfast.com...
> Is there a way to define forward references to functions?  Due to my own
> personal eccentricities, I like to have the main body of a program
> appear at the top of its source file, and the functions it uses at the
> end.
>
> By "define forward reference", I mean something analogous to the
> following C construct:
>
>   static char* foo();  /* forward reference */
>   static char* bar();  /* forward reference */
>
>   main () {
>     printf("%s\n", foo());
>     printf("%s\n", bar());
>     exit(0);
>   }
>
>   char* foo() {
>     return ("foo");
>   }
>
>   char* bar() {
>     return ("bar");
>   }
>
> If I could make use of forward references in ruby, the above program
> could look something like this:
>
>   # somehow, define a forward reference to function foo()
>
>   # somehow, define a forward reference to function bar()
>
>   # program starts here
>
>   x = foo()
>   y = bar()
>   puts x
>   puts y
>   exit(0)
>
>   # real function definitions ...
>
>   def foo
>     return "foo"
>   end
>
>   def bar
>     return "bar"
>   end
>
> Am I totally out of luck, or is there some kind of ruby trick I can
> perform which will give me this capability?

Just define them duplicately, the first time with an empty body:

# "prototypes"
def foo;end
def bar(name)end

# main stuff
x = foo()
y = bar()
puts x
puts y
exit 0

# "functions"
def foo
  # foodoo
end

def bar(name)
  # bardo
end

Regards

    robert