From: Gavin Sinclair <gsinclair@...>
Date: 2004-08-24T03:11:30+09:00
Subject: Re: Attr; and Moving Namespaces

On Tuesday, August 24, 2004, 1:09:26 AM, T. wrote:

> Okay, just two more questions, I swear.

> First of all, how prevalent is the use of #attr?

I know of one person who uses it, but his keyboard seems to lack a
shift key and parentheses, so perhaps his underscore key is also
broken :)

I dislike 'attr', as the attr_* methods have a clearer intent and
consistent style.

I do wish, however, that Ruby collected attribute metadata so you
could use it later in the class, to wit:

  class X
    attr_reader :x, :y
    attr_accessor :z

    attributes.include? :x         # -> true
    attribute(:x).writer?          # -> false
  end

That particular API is the result of less thinking than typing, so
it's not a literal suggestion; just a germ of an idea.

> Secondly, if I create a module, is it possible to "reload" it into another
> namespace? ex-

> module ObjectModifier
>   class Object
>     def new_method
>       ...
>     end
>   end
> end

> # reload into toplevel
> reinclude ObjectModifier  #?

s/reinclude/include/ and give it a try.  I think you'll be pleasantly
surprised.

Gavin