From: ptkwt@...1.aracnet.com (Phil Tomson)
Date: 2001-04-23T06:40:08+09:00
Subject: [ruby-talk:14040] RCR: getClassFromString method

It would be nice to have a function that returns a class type given a 
string that names that class.  I realize that this is doable already in at 
least a couple of different ways - you can use the each_object method in 
ObjectSpace to iterate through all of the classes till you find the one 
you need, or you can use const_get in Modules, (at least that's where I 
think it is), but none of those ways is intuitive and easy to figure out 
for newbies.

So, in the spirit of "the principle of least surprise", I propose that we 
have a function called getClassFromString (or classFromString) that would 
do this as well as handling cases where there is class hierarchy (like 
MyClasses::ThisClass).  This should be built-in functionality.  I'm not 
sure where the best place is to put such a method, but I suspect it would 
be best to put it in Object or ObejectSpace.

Phil