From: why the lucky stiff <ruby-talk@...>
Date: 2005-04-18T23:01:16+09:00
Subject: Re: [ANN] Article: Seeing Metaclasses Clearly

David A. Black wrote:
> The tutorial itself looks good, though the terminology in this area
> continues to be a problem.  My understanding is that the most general
> term is "singleton class", and that "metaclass" is a special term for
> singleton class of a Class object.  (See Pickaxe, 2nd ed., p. 382.)
> So, for example, I would rename your Object#metaclass method
> #singleton_class, since it applies to all objects (as per RCR 231).

Sure, I'm aware that "virtual class" is the generic term, while Matz has 
also used "singleton class" and "meta-object" to describe these classes 
used in tandem with an RObject.

I only use the term "metaclass" because it is the term predominantly 
used in the PickAxe II.  While Dave does interchangibly use "virtual 
class" and "singleton class", the only term he uses to generically refer 
to the construct is "metaclass".

And I really need to be able to wrap these up in a single word, whilst 
still jiving with the PickAxe.

_why